I’ve had a chance to spend a little time with Tiff Macklem. This was before his appointment as governor of the Bank of Canada. Macklem was the dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto when I was enrolled in the school’s MBA program. I met him at a few receptions and found him to be a personable and (obviously) smart guy. And while he was still at Rotman, he wrote two articles for The Conversation Canada. Until this week, most Canadians had never heard of Tiff Macklem. But Pierre Poilievre, the frontrunner for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, made headlines by saying he would fire Macklem if he becomes prime minister. The reason: Canada’s current high inflation rate.

I only got a B+ in economics at Rotman, but I know enough that the independence of central banks should be sacrosanct. Monetary policy should not be tied to any party’s political promises. The decisions of the Bank of Canada, like those made by any central bank of a democratic country, should be scrutinized. But they should not be politicized. Poilievre has promoted some unique financial policies – including the suggestion that cryptocurrency is a way Canadians can “take back their money” and “opt out of inflation.” These statements were made before the cryptocurrency market crashed this week, wiping out hundreds of billions of value for investors.

For your weekend reading, I’ve assembled some articles from across The Conversation global network on the latest plunge in the value of cryptocurrencies. I’ve also included one of Tiff Macklem’s articles from 2019.

Have a great weekend. We’ll be back in your Inbox on Monday.