Introduction
Thank you for the kind introduction, Bill. And thank you for inviting me to speak before you today.
It's always a pleasure to be in Toronto. This is where I did my undergraduate and master's degrees, just north of here at the University of Toronto. I have fond memories of spending days in the Buttery-and occasional trips to the Brunswick House and the Duke of York. But I digress.
I really appreciate the opportunity to deliver the annual Laidler Lecture in honour of David Laidler and his many contributions to economic thinking. He has left an indelible mark on North American-and specifically, Canadian-monetary policy. This legacy includes writing two award-winning books with Bill Robson.
Speaking of which, I'm delighted to be here at the C.D. Howe Institute. The Institute has long been a resource for the Bank of Canada, thanks to its nationally acclaimed writing about economic policy. I've also enjoyed partnering with your organization on workshops to debate and research important economic issues.
As you know, yesterday was one of the Bank's eight fixed interest rate announcement dates. So my talk here is timely.
In yesterday's decision, Governing Council maintained the policy interest rate at 2.75%.
Here's the context in which we took this decision.
