Introduction
Good afternoon. I am delighted to be here in Regina and would like to thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today.
Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to congratulate a local winner of this year's Bank of Canada Museum Award for Excellence in Teaching Economics. Andre Boutin Maloney of Bert Fox Community High School in Fort Qu'Appelle developed an interactive trading post simulation that combined the teaching of Indigenous history and economic principles. Congratulations to Andre and the entire class. The 2024 edition of this award launched recently. If you know of a deserving economics teacher, you can submit a nomination on the Museum's website.
My speech today will review how the events of the past few years have affected households in different ways. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, every household had different levels of income, wealth and debt. And since the pandemic arrived in Canada in early 2020, economic circumstances have shifted dramatically and repeatedly. Multiple levels of government and the Bank of Canada acted in response.
Policies and economic developments have shaped the ways individual households and businesses experienced the effects of the pandemic. And this, in turn, has influenced our subsequent policy decisions. As we have made decisions in this complex and evolving environment, it has been important to understand how these decisions affect different households and businesses.
