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Canada’s advantages were very apparent through the financial crisis. They sheltered us from the worst of the storm and put Canada at the front of the pack coming out of the recession.

We are three years into the global financial crisis, and its dynamics still dominate the economic outlook. In particular, broad forces of bank, household, and sovereign deleveraging can be expected to add to the variability and temper the pace of global economic growth in the years ahead.

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney today urged the world's leading nations to ensure that their domestic policies are consistent with the G-20 framework for strong, sustainable, and balanced growth and to support the G-20 financial system reforms.

The best contribution that the Bank of Canada can make to help all Canadians reap the benefits of the current commodities boom is to remain focused on achieving its inflation target, Governor Mark Carney said today in a speech to the Commodities, the Economy, and Money conference.

We are experiencing a commodity super cycle. Throughout the current boom, the scale of price increases has been higher, and the range of affected commodities broader, than in previous upturns. Since 2002, grain and oilseed prices have more than doubled, base metals prices have tripled, and oil prices have quadrupled.

In a speech to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Governor Dodge explained that while strong macroeconomic conditions are necessary for meeting the challenges of the global economy, additional work on microeconomic policies is still needed.

Our primary objective at the Bank is to promote the economic and financial welfare of Canadians. Over the years, we have learned that the best contribution that monetary policy can make in this regard is to give Canadians confidence in the future value of their money. We do this by keeping inflation low, stable, and predictable.

Today, I will talk about two types of global economic imbalances. The first relates to the way that savings and investment are being distributed across countries in an increasingly uneven way. The second is the possibility that, over the next couple of decades, the global economy might face a protracted period in which desired savings exceed planned investment, partly because of demographic trends.

The Bank of Canada today unveiled Canada's new $50 bank note, the theme of which is Nation Building: shaping the political, legal, and social structures for democracy and equality. The new note was unveiled at a ceremony in Calgary, Alberta by the Honourable Senator Joyce Fairbairn and David Dodge, Governor of the Bank of Canada.