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“I’m starting to believe that there could be some real problems with Canada,” Carson Block, an investor and founder of Muddy Waters LLC, said in a May 31 interview. Canada may be “the hottest market in the world for short sellers; if not, it could be.” The investor is shorting Canadian miner Asanko Gold Inc.

Famed short seller Marc Cohodes has been betting against Home Capital since November 2014 — when the stock was near its peak. The California investor is also targeting mortgage lender Equitable Group Inc. Net short positions in the Canadian dollar meanwhile hit an all-time high going back more than two decades.

In a speech Monday, Wilkins highlighted how the nation has largely emerged from the oil price decline that prompted policy makers to cut interest rates twice in 2015, citing “pretty impressive” first-quarter GDP growth that was the well above any other G-7 economy. The recovery is also broadening across regions and sectors, giving policy makers “reason to be encouraged” about its sustainability.

She downplayed worries about Toronto’s housing market and, while acknowledging slack still remains in the economy, said policy makers need to keep their eye on the future evolution of growth, not only current economic conditions. The analogy she used was of a car needing time to brake ahead of a traffic light.

“As growth continues and, ideally, broadens further, Governing Council will be assessing whether all of the considerable monetary policy stimulus presently in place is still required,” Wilkins said. “At present, there is significant monetary policy stimulus in the system.”