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The Bank of Canada today released its 2008 schedule of eight dates for announcing decisions on its key policy interest rate, and confirmed the announcement dates for the remainder of this year.

In accordance with the Bank of Canada Act, the Governor of the Bank of Canada is appointed by the independent directors with the approval of the Governor in Council (federal Cabinet). Following an announcement on 25 April 2007 that the current Governor, Mr. David Dodge, would not be seeking reappointment at the end of his seven year mandate on 31 January 2008, the Bank's Board of Directors initiated a process to find a replacement.

Economic growth and inflation in Canada in the first half of this year have been stronger than was expected in the April Monetary Policy Report. The Bank judges that the economy is now operating further above its production potential than was projected in April.

Economic growth and inflation in Canada in the first half of this year have been stronger than was expected in the April Monetary Policy Report.

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is raising its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one percentage point to 4 1/2 per cent.

Mr. de Rato has been a strong leader and a driving force behind renewing the IMF to meet the global challenges of the 21st century. We at the Bank of Canada are very sorry that he will be leaving. His departure will be a big loss for the international community.

The principal mission of the Bank of Canada is the formulation and implementation of Canada's national monetary policy to promote the economic and financial welfare of the country.

Now, Manitoba – right in the middle of our vast country – might seem an odd place to talk about globalization. But this province, like the rest of Canada, is very much affected by global economic forces.

Today, along with the release of the consumer price index (CPI) for May 2007, Statistics Canada converted the official time base reference period for the CPI (the period for which the value 100 is assigned to the index) from 1992 to 2002 . This conversion was previously announced on 23 January 2007.

Over the years, we at the Bank of Canada have learned that the best contribution that monetary policy can make to the economic welfare of Canadians is to keep inflation low, stable, and predictable. We try to keep the annual increase in consumer price inflation at 2 per cent, which is the middle of a 1 to 3 per cent inflation-control range.