When it comes to monetary policy -- the Bank’s most important responsibility -there is now a clear measure of what constitutes successful performance. The second part of the accountability arrangement for the Bank of Canada is the directive power given to the Minister of Finance under Section 14 of the Bank of Canada Act.
With the new practice of agreed targets between the Bank and the Minister, the directive power, which has never been used, now seems even less likely to be used. Nonetheless, if there were a fundamental disagreement on the targets when they came up for renewal, the Minister could impose his will via a directive.