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The preamble to the Bank of Canada Act calls on us to promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada. In this context, we aim to foster good economic performance through monetary stability - that is to say, through low, stable, and predictable inflation. But no market economy can function properly unless it is also supported by an efficient and stable financial system.

This article outlines one of the Bank's key approaches to dealing with the uncertainty that surrounds decisions on monetary policy: the consideration of a wide range of information from a variety of sources. More specifically, it describes the information and analysis that the monetary policy decision-makers—the Governing Council of the Bank of Canada—receive in the two or three weeks leading up to a decision on the setting of the policy rate—the target overnight interest rate. The article also describes how the Governing Council reaches this decision.

Results from the Business Outlook Survey and the Business Leaders’ Pulse indicate that firms’ sentiment has improved. Responses were mostly gathered before the start of the war in the Middle East. Fewer businesses reported being affected by trade tensions with the United States, and many expect sales growth to improve. Most businesses plan to maintain or slightly increase current staffing levels and investment spending. One-year-ahead inflation expectations have ticked up slightly. Results of follow-up calls made after the start of Iran war suggest that many firms are already facing higher input costs related to the war due to rising prices for energy, fertilizer and freight.

The summer Business Outlook Survey points to a diverging outlook across regions. While there are some encouraging signs, owing in part to strengthening U.S. demand, weak oil prices continue to significantly dampen economic perspectives in affected sectors and regions.

These meetings help us keep Members of Parliament and, through you, all Canadians informed about the Bank's views on the economy, and about the objective of monetary policy and the actions we take to achieve it.

Governor Poloz speaks about cycles in commodity prices and how Canada has used its endowment of natural resources to build a prosperous economy.

Taken together, responses to the spring survey indicate that, following a recent slowing in economic activity, firms expect business conditions to remain challenging over the next 12 months.

Change is the central theme of my remarks today. First, I will talk about some of the changes that have taken place at the Bank of Canada over its 70-year history. Then, I'll talk about some of the changes that are currently taking place in the global economy, as well as how we see our economy - across Canada and right here in Manitoba - adjusting to these changes.

This note reviews the emerging evidence on AI’s labour-market and productivity effects, highlighting early task-level impacts, sizable micro level productivity gains, and the macroeconomic challenges these pose for monetary policy during the transition.

Just before the pandemic began, the Bank of Canada conducted the 2020 Wage-Setting Survey. The goal was to explore the unusual trend of subdued wage growth in 2018 and 2019 despite a tightening in the labour market. Although this wage puzzle was beginning to resolve at the time of the survey, results highlight changes in several factors that may have important impacts on wage dynamics.