Following Poilievre's attacks, Bank of Canada governor says he welcomes criticism

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem shrugged off Conservative leadership contender Pierre Poilievre's pointed criticism of him and the central bank Thursday, saying he welcomes input from elected officials and he knows inflation is too high.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference after the release of the Bank of Canada's financial system review, which identifies expected threats to the economy in the year ahead, Macklem said he wouldn't address Poilievre's criticisms head-on.

As a public institution, he said, "we welcome diverse views. We welcome analysis. We welcome criticism of our work and our decisions. We're doing that ourselves."

WATCH: Bank of Canada governor reacts to Poilievre's threat

In his fight for the party's top job, Poilievre has emerged as a fierce critic of Canada's central bank. He's tried to link decades-high inflation to its COVID-era policy of quantitative easing and recently slammed the institution as "financially illiterate."

Poilievre has said that a government led by him would extend the auditor general's authority to include the Bank of Canada and push for a review of its pandemic policies.

During a Conservative leadership debate last month, Poilievre also said that he'll fire Macklem if he becomes prime minister — a promise that prompted criticism from some who said the Conservative MP is unfairly politicizing an institution that has always operated at arms-length from partisan politics.

Poilievre has since doubled down, accusing the Bank of "printing money" through quantitative easing to fuel the federal Liberal government's pandemic-related spending — spending he blames for higher prices.

"The elites in Ottawa are beside themselves that I would hold them to account for harm they've caused to everyday people. That's my job. I don't work for the elites. I work for you, the people, as a servant, not master," Poilieivre said in a recent social media post.

Asked about Poilievre's promise to put him out of a job, Macklem said, "I'm going to leave politics to the politicians."

But he defended the Bank's actions during the pandemic crisis.

Macklem said it was prudent to pursue a policy of quantitative easing — a process which sees the central bank "print" more money to buy assets such as government and corporate bonds held by banks and other institutions — because the financial markets were "frozen."

As a number of other central banks did during the Great Recession of the late 2000s, the Bank embraced quantitative easing to boost lending and spending during a time of financial panic. That policy ended in October 2021.

The Bank's move to buy up these bonds provided much needed liquidity during a time of uncertainty, Macklem said.