Sponsored by
Canadian Association for Business Economics (CABE)

Radisson Hotel Kingston Harbourfront
Kingston, Ontario

Every August on the Monday and Tuesday of the last full week, the Canadian Association for Business Economics (CABE) hosts a policy conference in Kingston, Ontario.  The annual gathering has its roots almost 40 years ago and evolved from the Moneco-Econtro conference.  Since 1961, a group of economists have been organizing a summer conference to discuss the key issues affecting the Canadian economy.  The group has been meeting in Kingston every year since that time.  The attendees are dominantly senior business and government economists with a significant concentration from the Toronto and Montreal financial communities. Originally an autonomous group, the organization of the conference was folded into the organization of the Canadian Association for Business Economics some years ago.

The focus of this year's conference is on Managing the Recovery, a somewhat optimistic note. The conference opened on a Monday evening (August 24^th this year) with a keynote speaker and then continued for a full day on the Tuesday.

This year our opening speaker was Dr. David Laidler who will be discussing monetary policy during the recovery. David Laidler is Professor Emeritus at the University of Western Ontario, where he was Professor of Economics from 1975 until 2004. He was educated at the London School of Economics (B.Sc. (econ.) 1959), the University of Syracuse (M.A. 1960), and the University of Chicago (Ph.D. 1964). Prior to joining the UWO faculty in 1975, he held full-time academic appointments at the London School of Economics (assistant lecturer 1960-1961), the University of California at Berkeley (assistant professor 1963-1966), the University of Essex (lecturer 1966-1969), and the University of Manchester (professor 1969-1975). In 1998 and 1999, he was Visiting Economist and Special Adviser at the Bank of Canada. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1981.

On the Tuesday (Aug 25th), the lunch-time speaker was the Bank of Canada Deputy-Governor Tim Lane. The title of his presentation was The Canadian Economy Beyond the Recession.  Our U.S. speaker was Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for Global Insight. Mike McCracken and Pat Grady did presentations on the longer-term industrial perspective.  Derek Burleton from TD Bank presented research on EI Reform.  John Baldwin and Ryan Macdonald presented research on infrastructure and productivity.  Chris Ragan presented some work on the longer term fiscal policy issues associated with the demographic future of Canada.

Lane - BOC - Beyond the Recession - Timothy Lane, Deputy Governor, Bank of Canada

Gault - US Outlook 090825 - Nigel Gault, Chief U.S. Economist, Global Insight

Burleton - Bishop - EI Reform 090825 - Derek Burleton, Assoc. Vice-President Director Economic Studies, TD Bank Financial Group (Co-Presenter - Grant Bishop)

McCracken Long Term Issues 090825 - Mike McCracken, Chairman CEO, Informetrica Limite

Grady - Industrial Structure - 090825 - Pat Grady Global Economics Grady - LT Remarks - 090825

Yalnizyan - Industrial Mix - 090825 - Armine Yalnizyan. CCPA

Baldwin-MacDonald Infrastructure - Productivity - 090825- John Baldwin, Director, Microeconomic Studies, Statistics Canada (Co-Presenter - Ryan Macdonald)

Ragan - Fiscal Demographics - 090825 - Chris Ragan, Clifford Clark Visiting Economist, Finance Canada

TheCABE Mentoring Committee is pleased to announce Mike McCracken is the first recipient of the #1 Mentor Award for his support for the program and participation over the last two years. From CABE’s earliest days to the present, Mike’s leadership, advocacy and support for a national association anchored by regional chapters should be appreciated by everyone with an interest in Canadian business economics.

In other news, the CABE Mentoring Program recently held two successful social events—in Ottawa (29 January) and Toronto (12 February). Turn-out was great for both events. The social gatherings were open to past and present participants, as well as anyone interested in the program. The idea stemmed from a participant survey conducted last spring and approved by the CABE Board last year. There were interesting (and short!) speeches, a fun quiz, plenty of lively conversation, and a nice mix between long-standing economists, some newer ones, and some looking to break in the job market.