Mark Carney, outgoing governor of the Bank of Canada, addressed the Montreal Board of Trade yesterday in his last public appearance before leaving to become governor of the Bank of England. In his parting words he advised that it’s time to seize this country’s natural advantages.
He applauded the Prime Minister’s efforts to seek out new trading partners on the day Stephen Harper left for Peru to discuss bilateral relations, and to explore trade deals with the Pacific Alliance, a free-trade area made up of Peru, Chile, Mexico and Colombia. The leaders of all five countries will meet Thursday in Columbia.
Mark Carney acknowledged that while Canada emerged from the 2008/9 recession in relatively good shape, our exports are down. But in spite of this, our system works he said.
He applauded the labour market saying, “Canadians are going where the jobs are.” He said “last year, there was a net inflow of more than 40,000 people into Alberta from the rest of Canada, a level of mobility that approaches its previous peak.”
He lauded what he called our “fiscal federalism” which allows have-not provinces to get some share of the wealth of the “have” provinces through the often criticized system of equalization payments. And he said we cannot sit on our laurels; “in a rapidly shifting world, only sustained education, ingenuity and investment can maintain competitiveness.”
Unlike the committee approach in the United States, the governor of the Bank of Canada makes decisions regarding monetary policy, interest rates and overseeing Canada’s financial system alone. It is his signature that appears on our bank notes. Stephen Poloz, the next governor of the Bank of Canada, begins on June 3rd.
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