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https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/boc-us-concerns-column-don-pittis-1.6203452
Bank of Canada governor deflects questions on inflation and housing-bubble fallout | CBC News
Amid longer lasting inflation, the potential fallout of a Canadian housing bubble and a slower path to jobs recovery, Tiff Macklem tries to reassure the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations that a few bumps won't hurt Canada's chances of recovering from the p
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Bank of Canada boss Tiff Macklem is grilled on the path to pandemic recovery
Tiff Macklem faced some tough questioning yesterday, as members of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations grilled the Bank of Canada governor on whether their northern neighbour would have a trouble-free exit from the downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Led by financier and former Democratic politician Roger Altman, members of the U.S. think-tank asked probing questions on whether Canada's housing bubble would have any spillover effects on the global economy, as well as on jobs, inflation, commodity pricing and the difficulty of moving from a low interest rate regime to one without monetary stimulus.
To Canadians who have heard Macklem's views in the past, the answers were in some ways less revealing than the questions. But among the new things he did pass on were fears that inflation could well turn out to be more long-lasting than expected and jobs recovery could be slower.
Inflation: blip or trend?
On the topic of inflation, Macklem responded to a question that conveyed a growing concern in the financial community that inflation was not a blip, but rather a trend.
"A lot of people in finance are learning that the most important word in the English language is 'transitory,'" quipped Altman, referring to the term repeatedly used by central bankers to imply that inflation would go away on its own.
"It's the job of central banks to say it is," responded Macklem in a similarly humorous tone.
But both in the council session and at a later news conference, the bank governor conceded that inflation was running hotter and could last longer than initially expected.
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grill : to ask someone a lot of questions for a long time
commodity : anything that can be bought and sold
council : a group of people elected or chosen to make decisions or give advice on a particular subject, to represent a particular group of people, or to run a particular organization
meltdown : an extremely dangerous situation in a nuclear power station in which the nuclear fuel becomes very hot and melts through its container and escapes into the environment / a complete failure, especillay in financial matters
relations : the relationships that exist between two people, organizations, or countries, and whether these are good or bad
probing : (of a question) difficult to answer without telling the truth
spillover : an effect that results from a problem spreading
blip : an unexpected and unusual condition that is usually temporary / a short period of time in which a situation gets worse before imporving
convey : to express feelings, thoughts, or information to other people / to take or carry someone or something to a particular place
quip : a quick, intelligent, and often amusing remark
transitory : not permanent; temporary;
governor : a person in charge of a particular political unit
concede : to allow someone to have somthing, even if you do not want to / to admit that something is true, or to allow something / if you conced in a competition, you admit that you have lost
abstruse : not known or understood by many people