Portfolio Manager Jean-Francois Tardif said Justin Trudeau ought to tread carefully when it comes to printing money, a day after the Liberal Party leader made waves when he said monetary policy would not be his key priority on the campaign trail.
“If we keep printing it [money] just for giving gifts to people for many, many years, the Canadian dollar is just going to crash,” said Tardif, founder of Timelo Investment Management, in an interview. “And that will cause all sorts of much bigger problems.”
His comments come after Trudeau told reporters he does not think of monetary policy as a top issue for his party ahead of the Sept. 20 federal election.
“When I think about the biggest, most important economic policy this government, if re-elected, would move forward, you’ll forgive me if I don’t think about monetary policy. You’ll understand that I think about families,” said Trudeau at a press conference in Vancouver on Wednesday.
Tardif said current central bank stimulus is justified given the COVID-19 crisis, but issued a warning that Canada could face a similar fate to other countries who have recently let policy run amok.
“We’ve seen it in Argentina, Turkey and Zimbabwe,” said Tardif. “We’re not the U.S. We don’t have a world renowned currency. We have a very tiny currency that most people don’t care about, so I think we’ve got to be careful.”
Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole seized the opportunity to chime in on the trending topics of inflation and central bank stimulus while on a campaign stop in Ottawa.
“I’m concerned about monetary policy because I’m concerned about the housing crisis,” said O’Toole while addressing reporters on Thursday.
“The fact that hundreds of thousands of Canadians are having trouble keeping up with their bills, the rising costs, inflation at near 20-year highs doesn’t seem to concern Mr. Trudeau. I prefer keeping inflation low and the target of two per cent, which is the [Bank of Canada’s] current mandate is one we should continue, because it can have economic growth and allow Canadians to keep pace with the rising costs of living.”
On the subject of runaway inflation, Tardif said that some consumer price increases may be transitory, but a lot of it, especially wage increases, is not.
“Shortages of people and shortages of stuff creates more inflation, not less inflation.”
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