There is a difference between what we have the legal right to do and what we prefer to do in practice.
A central bank sets itself apart by virtue of its independence, its well-established target and its requirement to be accountable as a result. The monetary policy framework that we have chosen targets the rate of inflation. That is an understanding that the Bank of Canada has renewed with governments over the last 25 years, and we have just done so once more. That is the best way for the bank to promote a macroeconomic environment that favours investment and a stable economy for households and businesses. If we added direct money loans to the government to that mix, we would change the objectives and the mandate of the central bank. That could result in less clarity about our inflation rates and would, at the end of the day, be detrimental to our financial stability.