You’d think the most prominent banking job in the country wouldn’t be one that would require ads in newspapers to fill. But you’d be wrong.
According to CTV News, the Bank of Canada has taken out ads in The Economist, La Presse in Quebec and the Globe and Mail in search of a replacement for governor Mark Carney, who is leaving this summer to take on the job of head of the Bank of England.
But unlike the Bank of England, which broke with centuries of tradition to appoint the non-British Carney, the BoC wants a Canadian at the helm, and says so explicitly in its ad.
“A Canadian citizen, you have the demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment in a highly complex environment, to manage competing priorities, and to rank strategic priorities,” says an online version of the ad posted on the website of recruiting firm Odgers Berndtson.
The ad goes on to say that the candidate should “have the courage to take a stand to support principles and policies.”
Speculation has already begun on who may take the helm of Canada’s central bank, with current senior deputy governor Tiff Macklem generally considered to be the favourite.
The Financial Post reported last week that the shorter-than-usual timeline to find a new governor — the result of Carney’s abrupt departure announcement in November — favours Macklem, who is well established at the Bank of Canada in the number-two spot.
Carney, a shining star on the global financial scene who — besides running the BoC — also heads the international Financial Stability Board, announced on November 26 that he is leaving to head the Bank of England.
In the weeks since, he has seen more publicity — both good and bad — than he has likely ever seen before.
In a speech given in Toronto in December, Carney threw some support behind a new idea that has been gaining popularity among bankers in recent years: That central banks should focus on job creation, instead of their usual targeting of the inflation rate.
That ruffled some feathers in the U.K., where some observers worried the country may have hired itself a radical central banker.
Back home, Carney took flak after a Globe and Mail article revealed that he had been courted to run for the Liberal Party leadership, even spending a week at the Nova Scotia home of a senior Liberal figure. The news raised questions about the Bank of Canada’s impartiality.
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