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Today, the Bank of Canada released its October Monetary Policy Report, in which it discusses economic and financial trends in the context of Canada's inflation-control strategy.

The Canadian economy has been expanding strongly so far this year and is now operating fairly close to its full production capacity. Consumer price inflation has risen above the 2 per cent target and is expected to rise further before year-end because of high oil prices and a number of other relative price movements.

Today, we released our October Monetary Policy Report, in which we discuss economic and financial trends in the context of Canada's inflation-control strategy.

In this context, he focused on the critical role that higher productivity plays in supporting real income growth and improved standards of living over time.

Given the extent of uncertainty in the world today, we are all naturally preoccupied with near-term issues and prospects. That's understandable. But, at the same time, it's critical that we look past the short-term to the longer-term trends and potential of our economy.

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 2 3/4 per cent. The operating band for the overnight rate is unchanged, and the Bank Rate remains at 3 per cent.

The question before us sounds straightforward: "Should Canada adopt the U.S. dollar?" But the issues are complicated. I will not pretend that I can cover all the nuances of this topic in my allotted time. So I am running the risk that I may oversimplify matters.

On 23 April 2002, the Bank of Canada announced its intention to implement a securities-lending program to support the liquidity of Government of Canada securities by providing a secondary and temporary source of securities to the market. The Bank intends to implement this program on 30 September 2002.

Indeed, a strong research environment has long been a hallmark of the Bank. We also want to encourage research relevant to our business, especially with respect to monetary policy and financial system stability, at universities all across Canada.

Canada's economy has shown remarkable strength over the past two years, despite a number of unfavourable developments that originated mainly from abroad, Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge said today in a speech at the University of British Columbia. The adoption of inflation targets, the restoration of fiscal health, and the restructuring initiatives taken by businesses were all positive steps taken in the 1990s that have allowed the economy to better handle economic problems now, he said.