He says: “Overall, you had this intense feeling of carrying a responsibility, not just for a few people, but basically for everybody; this sense that everything you do matters to so many people. It’s a really rich feeling. It’s hard to describe. There’s not much that can compare.”
He regards his time as governor, and as a macro policy-maker, as a success. When he took over, the economy was still reeling from the global financial crisis and then in 2014 oil prices collapsed. Both times the bank worked to get things back on track to the point where, six months before COVID hit, inflation was at 2% and unemployment was at a 40-year low. The lesson, he says, is that the healthier the economy, the more resilient it will be in the event of a shock.
“What we’ve seen over the past few years is the economy has adapted extraordinarily well and outperformed all the forecasts by the economics community, and outperformed what was laid out in budgets by governments. The main lesson is it’s always worth investing in getting the economy back to where it belongs, because that gets it set up for whatever might come along [next].”
Personal achievements
Perhaps surprisingly, though, the highlights of Poloz’s reign are more personal. Getting his signature on the money was symbolic of an ambition achieved. And while it’s usual for the governor to sign only their initials, Poloz spelled out his full name so both Stephen, his mother’s family name, and Poloz, his father’s, were in full view.
He is also proud of getting the first Canadian woman “on the money” when Agnes MacPhail, the first female parliamentarian, featured on a commemorative bank note. He views this as a “huge accomplishment”, while under his leadership, the Bank of Canada also appointed its first women senior deputy governor in Carolyn Wilkins.
