Economics
New Bank of Canada Chief Takes Reins Under Mountain of Debt
- Macklem begins term with economy emerging from induced coma
- Big question for BoC is how much leverage can the country take
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It would be hard for Tiff Macklem to imagine a worse economic backdrop to begin his seven-year term as Bank of Canada governor.
One quarter of the nation’s labor force is out of work after the coronavirus pandemic and an oil-price crash triggered the deepest recession in the postwar era. Tens of thousands of Canadian businesses will almost certainly close in the next several months, bringing lasting damage to an economy that was struggling even before the crisis, and is seen lagging the recovery in the U.S.