Down to the Wire for the Bank of Canada’s Mandate Renewal

If recent history is any guide, the Government of Canada and the Bank of Canada will be announcing a new mandate for the Bank within the next several weeks. There are many available choices but only a few leading contenders. The success of the inflation-targeting status quo is hard to deny but there is nonetheless growing support for the Bank to have a dual mandate, whereby it targets both inflation and unemployment. This panel explored these options and examined the associated trade-offs of this important policy decision.

Speakers: Mario Seccareccia, Michelle Alexopoulos, Christopher Ragan

Moderator: Stephen Gordon

In September 2020, with the Bank of Canada's mandate up for renewal, the Max Bell School held a four-day online conference, during which independent economists from across Canada, the United States, and Europe examined the Bank’s mandate and explored the most credible options for the next phase of Canadian monetary policy. Read the resulting research papers by conference presenters, discussants and panelists, each exploring a different option for the mandate's renewal.