David Dodge will be remembered for straight talk but a steady hand when he steps down on January 31 at the end of a seven-year term as governor of the Bank of Canada. “He’s been one of the forces that has contributed to the remarkable growth [of Canada’s economy] over the past few years”, says Craig Wright, chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s biggest financial institution.

Yet, in spite of unemployment dropping to a 33-year low and the economy operating above capacity, inflation has remained close to the central bank’s 2 per cent target. The “core” consumer price index, which excludes energy, food and other volatile items, has recently strayed slightly higher, causing the bank to raise its key overnight lending rate in July for the first time in a year.