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“There isn’t anything wrong with guidance, but what I think it’s best used for is to have it in your tool kit so you feel you have an extra qualifying effect,” he said in an interview with the Financial Post. “If it’s used all the time, then it’s just our conclusion of all the analysis that we have. Anyone else can figure out what that conclusion is.”

In a December news conference, Mr. Poloz had called the lack of guidance a “movement towards honesty.” Still, he’s quick to note the bank was in no way being “dishonest” when, under Mr. Carney, it was the only central bank in the Group of Seven saying rates were more likely to rise.

“What really is the value about fussing over a few lines of so-called guidance . . . . It’s kind of like writing down your conclusion,” he said. “I think it’s more credible to be open and honest . . . . This we believe is roughly right. We’re not pretending to be right.”

While Mr. Poloz is making his mark on the Bank of Canada, the learning curve has been steeper than he could have envisioned when he took over from Mr. Carney — crowned as the Golden Boy of global finance after keeping Canada afloat during, and after, the banking crisis and economic recession of only a few years ago.

Now, only in his eighth month as the governor of Canada’s central bank, Mr. Poloz is still learning the hard realities of global fiscal and economic risks, ultra-weak inflation, a still-strong currency and housing market, lagging exports and hesitant business investment.