How Many Mistakes Must Our Institutions Make Before Criticism Is ‘Acceptable’?

The effort by the elites to rally around the Bank of Canada demonstrates their fear of a real debate over the future of the country.

If you are a goalie in hockey, and you repeatedly fail to stop the puck from going into the net, you likely won’t have a job for long – at least not the same job.

Acknowledging that reality isn’t considered to be “undermining the institution of goaltending,” it’s simply acknowledging that there is supposed to be accountability when someone fails at their job.

Somehow, that logic seems to be accepted almost anywhere, except for one of the most powerful institutions in our country:

The Bank of Canada.

The more the Bank of Canada is shown to have failed in their predictions and policies, the more angry the establishment elite gets at those who point it out.

The latest elitist outburst is former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge:

Earthly power, or spiritual dominion?

Behind much of the anger over Poilievre’s criticism of the central bank seems to be this sense among the elite that the Bank of Canada is an almost Holy institution that is beyond reproach.

This attitude is dangerous of course, because treating the Bank of Canada in that way is directly opposed to the accountability and transparency that is supposed to constrain the power of state institutions.

Every government institution is led by fallible human beings, and thus must be open to criticism – especially when those institutions fail.

No credit for being right?

Let’s look at what the Bank of Canada was saying in June of 2021:

“Bank of Canada policy makers aren’t worried about the recent run up of inflation they believe is being driven largely by temporary factors, according to a top official.

The pick-up in Canadian inflation to above 3 per cent was one of the key issues discussed by policy makers in deliberations this week, Deputy Governor Tim Lane said in a speech after the central bank’s stand-pat decision Wednesday.

Officials agreed the higher-than-expected inflation is largely due to unfavorable year-ago comparisons, Lane said on Thursday, with continued excess supply expected to put downward pressure on prices once the base effects abate.

“These base-year effects are, by definition, transitory — they will not persist beyond the next few months,” Lane said in prepared remarks. “What will persist until we see a complete recovery is the underlying slack in the economy.””

From a purely objective perspective, the Bank of Canada was completely wrong in their predictions.

Do they seem like a deeply wise institution that has access to knowledge and understanding beyond the rest of us?

Or, do they seem like a flawed institution that has already been heavily politicized and makes repeated errors?

Given that it’s the latter, the Bank of Canada has already weakened their own credibility, even before any external criticism.

At the same time the Bank of Canada was claiming inflation would be ‘transitory,’ Pierre Poilievre and some of the Independent Media were warning that the excessive money printing by the Bank of Canada would have long-term inflationary effects, and would increasingly rob Canadians of our purchasing power.

This is indeed what happened.

So, if an institution fails to do their job, and fails to accurately predict what their institution specifically exists to predict, and if outsiders are more accurate than the Bank of Canada, why shouldn’t the Bank of Canada face immense criticism and calls for more accountability?

And why shouldn’t Bank of Canada critics like Poilievre get credit for being right where the Bank of Canada was wrong?

In a series of Tweets, Stephen Punwasi accurately noted how absurd it is that criticizing the Bank of Canada is controversial:

“FYI central banks like the Bank of Canada only have one job — controlling inflation.

They aren’t supposed to care about your home’s value or your investments.

If they failed at controlling inflation, they failed at 100% of their job.”

https://twitter.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1523791209369837568

“we got some things right…,” but not inflation?

That’s like a firefighter letting a building burn down because they were polishing the truck.

Or a doctor letting a patient die because they had to iron their scrubs.

Only in 🇨🇦 would people criticizing bankers be the enemy.”

https://twitter.com/StephenPunwasi/status/1523792911011553280

Elites close ranks

The elites aren’t afraid of institutions being undermined.

They are afraid of their own reputations being weakened.

They are afraid of people looking at the facts, and drawing the connections between federal government/Bank of Canada actions and the prices they’re seeing at the pumps and on the shelves.

By defending the Bank of Canada and lashing out at its critics, the elites show nothing except their own fear of real accountability, real discussion, and real debate about the future of monetary policy in Canada.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – Twitter

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