Mr.Coyne is governor of the Bank of Canada. As such he is the highest-paid civil servant in the federal government. He is paid $50,000 a year and is appointed for a period of seven years. Mr. Coyne, was named to this post by a Liberal government back in 1955, succeeding Mr. Graham Towers. When the Conservatives climbed into the driver's seat Mr. Coyne's status remained unchanged. He will stay in office until 1962- unless, of course, he decides to resign.
In fact Mr. Coyne has been invited to resign before 1962 by the federal representative from the constituency of Joliette-L'Assomption-Montcalm, Mr. J.-L. Pigeon. Speaking in the House of Commons on the 22nd of last March, Mr. Pigeon, a Conservative, had this to say:
Everyone knows Mr. Coyne and is aware of the political statements he made during a previous election campaign. Mr. Coyne has lost the confidence of the people.
And I urge the leader of the opposition and the members of this house to read the reports of the Bank of Canada from its inception to the present day. You will note that the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mr. Coyne, did not tell the former government what it should do. In other words, Mr. Coyne indulged in petty politics and mainly lauded government policies. Now that the government has changed Mr. Coyne wants to dictate his policies to the go- vernment.
Mr. Covne has lost the confidence of the people. In my view, this report which he has issued, the Bank of Canada report, is nothing but a cheap political pamphlet...
Mr. Coyne's responsibility is not to dictate to the government, no more than it was to extol the policies of the former government. If I were Mr. Coyne, having lost the people's trust, I would resign. Mr. Coyne should resign because his report is nothing but a cheap political lampoon.