Black Swan, do not leave these G+M boards.  Good discussion is hard to come by ;)

As for your contention, "Setting himself at odds with the BoC out of a combination of stubbornness and partisan ideology...".  I have an interesting article in my files from Macleans (Nov 2012) detailing the tight relationship between Harper's gov't and BOC's Mark Carney.   As we know, Carney's success at the BOC propelled him to the head of the UK's central bank.  

Regarding your assertions of austerity, the article notes that Harper's, "March 2009 budget went the other way, applying the textbook treatment: an explicitly temporary increase in spending". It stayed that way, declining mind you, until 2015, driving Canada's debt to GDP sharply down, thus giving Trudeau his 'wiggle room".  No, no Black Swan, Harper spent when he had to. It is time for Trudeau to do the opposite.

here is the article 
online:http://www.macleans.ca/economy/business/stephen-harper-and-mark-carney-good-or-just-lucky/