The C.D. Howe Institute Monetary Policy Council is comprised of 12 of Canada’s most distinguished financial-market and monetary economists. Chaired by the Institute’s President and Chief Executive Officer William Robson, it provides the Bank of Canada, financial-market participants and economic policy commentators with a regular independent assessment of the appropriate stance of Canadian monetary policy.
The Monetary Policy Council convenes to discuss the Bank of Canada’s policy toward the overnight rate, the short-term interest rate that is the Bank’s benchmark interest rate for influencing monetary conditions in Canada, shortly before each of the Bank’s interest-rate announcements.
The Bank of Canada’s interest-rate announcements occur roughly every six weeks, on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. The Monetary Policy Council’s recommendations, including the individual votes of its members, appear on the C.D. Howe Institute’s website at 2:00 p.m. on the Thursday before each scheduled announcement. (To see the schedule of past and future announcements click on this link).
The members of the Monetary Policy Council are:
| Craig Alexander TD Bank Group |
Doug Porter BMO Capital Markets |
| Steve Ambler Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) |
Christopher Ragan McGill University and David Dodge Chair in Monetary Policy, C.D. Howe Institute |
| Paul Beaudry University of British Columbia |
Nicholas Rowe Carleton University |
| Edward A. Carmichael Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (OMERS) |
Avery Shenfeld CIBC World Markets Inc. |
| Stéfane Marion National Bank |
Pierre Siklos Wilfrid Laurier University |
| Angelo Melino University of Toronto |
Craig Wright RBC Financial Group |
Contact: Kristine Gray — phone: 416-865-1904; e-mail: kgray@cdhowe.org.
The Dangers of an Extended Period of Low Interest Rates: Why the Bank of Canada Should Start Raising Them Now
May 15, 2013 – Paul R. Masson