Surprise as David Dodge heads Bank of Canada

Deputy minister for health David Dodge, 57, has been named on Dec 20 the new governor of the Bank of Canada, a surprise choice within financial circles, which had been expecting the central bank's senior deputy governor Malcolm Knight to succeed Gordon Thiessen, who will retire in January.

Finance minister Paul Martin, who had the final say on Dodge's appointment, commended the bureaucrat's knowledge of Canada's economy and his broad public-policy expertise. Some have judged the appointment a