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This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Bank of Canada, and we too have taken the time to celebrate our contributions to Canada. At such times, while it is appropriate to look back and celebrate history and accomplishments, it is also a good opportunity to look forward and think about where we are headed. In this spirit, I'd like to talk to you today about one of our main responsibilities; that is, the conduct of monetary policy.

In a speech to the Regina Chamber of Commerce, Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge said that Canada's economic record over the past 15 years demonstrates the value of focusing monetary policy on keeping inflation low, stable, and predictable.

The history of Canada's money provides a unique perspective from which to view the growth and development of the Canadian economy and Canada as a nation. Author James Powell traces the evolution of Canadian money form its pre-colonial origins to the present day, highlighting the currency chaos of the colonial period, as well as the effects of two world wars and the Great Depression.

Effective 13 December 2005, HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc./HSBC Bank Canada will become a primary dealer for Government of Canada marketable bonds and treasury bills, respectively, and Desjardins Securities will become a primary dealer for Government of Canada marketable bonds.

When the Bank of Canada was first established in 1935, it had two very different models to choose from—the Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve—in terms of the instruments that it might use for implementing monetary policy. Although some aspects of the Bank's early monetary policy practices, including the role of discount facilities and moral suasion, reflect the British example, other important differences shaped a distinctly Canadian approach. Chant describes what he argues are distinctively Canadian innovations: the Bank's favoured means of managing chartered bank liquidity through transfers of government deposits, the adoption of lagged reserve requirements, and the two periods in which it decided to float the Bank Rate. He also describes the series of bold initiatives that were undertaken in the 1990s with regard to simplifying clearing and settlement procedures, reducing reserve requirements, and setting the Bank's target for the overnight rate. Chant suggests that these changes have improved market efficiency, reduced risk and uncertainty, and strengthened the Bank's influence over its short-term operating target.

This volume features interesting images and anecdotes about Canada's central bank and its place in Canadian society from 1935 until the present.

Conference held on 6 and 7 December 2005 (papers in unedited, electronic format only)

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is raising its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one percentage point to 3 1/4 per cent.

Helliwell traces the changes that have occurred at the Bank of Canada since the early 1960s, when he first began a long and extensive relationship with the institution and its staff. He begins with his work on the Royal Commission on Banking and Finance (the Porter Commission) and continues over the next 40 years, giving particular focus to the Bank's analytic and research activities. Although he is careful to note the benefits of alternative analytical and information-gathering techniques, such as the extensive mail and direct interview survey that he and his colleagues conducted as part of the Royal Commission, Helliwell devotes most of his attention to the Bank's econometric modelling efforts, starting with RDX1 and RDX2 in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He cites some of the internal, as well as external, obstacles that had to be overcome as the Bank's modelling efforts advanced, and how shifting trends in the economics profession have sometimes posed a challenge. Helliwell concludes that these developments helped the Bank to come of age and take its place in the front ranks of the world's evidence-based policy-research institutions.

The revised Terms of Participation and the Standard Terms for Government of Canada Auctions, prepared jointly by the Department of Finance and the Bank of Canada on behalf of the Government of Canada, will become effective on 13 December 2005.