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| Sunday, 23 June 2002 |
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Canadian PM accused of meddling with central bank OTTAWA, June 21 (Reuters) Canada's finance minister insisted on Friday that the Bank of Canada would stay independent, amid a firestorm over whether the government had retaliated against a director of the central bank who had called on Prime Minister Jean Chretien to quit. The government came under fire in the House of Commons over a report in the Globe and Mail newspaper that said the expected reappointment of bank director Raymond Garneau had been pulled after he said Chretien should resign. The debate played out against the backdrop of a power struggle between Chretien and Paul Martin, the finance minister he sacked this month, and the issue of whether Chretien had influenced the firing of the publisher of an Ottawa newspaper that called on the prime minister to resign. "Who's next on the prime minister's hit list?" demanded Cheryl Gallant of the opposition Canadian Alliance. If confirmed, a move by Chretien against Garneau, a Martin supporter whose reappointment Martin had sought, could call into question the independence of the country's central bank. Martin's replacement, John Manley, assured Parliament on Friday the Bank of Canada was and would remain independent. "The independence of the bank is a very important prerequisite for the credibility of the monetary policy of the government. That's been the tradition, and that will continue to be respected," Manley said. Garneau has served two three-year terms on the Bank of Canada board and is currently acting lead director. His appointment formally expired on Feb. 28, but he has stayed on pending either reappointment or replacement. The board supervises the administration of the bank. It does not set monetary policy, although the lead director helps make recommendations on appointments, such as the recent naming of David Dodge as governor. Chretien spokesman Duncan Fulton said no decision had been made on the position held by Garneau, and he dismissed the idea that Chretien had gotten involved. "I would categorically reject that suggestion," he said. A senior Liberal source said, however, that the Quebec Liberal caucus in Parliament had passed a recommendation to Chretien's office that Garneau, who is from Quebec, be replaced because he had already served two terms. The Globe quoted Garneau as saying: "If we have a society where we can't express our views, then I don't like it." Garneau was not fielding media calls on Friday, but his office referred Reuters back to the Globe article, which quoted a senior official as saying the bank director's comments were a factor in the decision not to reappoint him. The Alliance's Gallant did not buy Manley's declaration that the bank remained independent. "Canadians still have their suspicions. The prime minister has a pretty long reach, given his concentration of power in that office and the ample evidence that he likes to use that power to advance his personal agenda," she said. "Why is the government sending the not-so-subtle message that no one can say anything critical of the prime minister without fear of job repercussions?" Chretien has faced heated questions this week over the firing on Sunday of Russell Mills, publisher of the Ottawa Citizen, by high-profile supporters of his Liberal Party who run the communication company CanWest Global Communications Corp. CGSa.TO . Mills paid the price for not letting CanWest review an editorial earlier this month calling on Liberals to overthrow Chretien if he did not resign. The Ottawa Newspaper Guild put a full-page ad in the Citizen headlined "Freedom of the press", voicing concern over the newspaper's editorial independence. Chretien, who faces a party review of his leadership in February, told Parliament on Friday he had nothing to do with the dismissal of Mills, adding that negative coverage of him proved he did not run Canada's media. "If I were to control the press, I think there would be a few mornings that some things would not appear in some of the newspapers," he said. |
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