The Future Is Now:  Catching up to digital realities in the Canadian economy

A tsunami of new technologies is sweeping through production, consumption, investment and trade processes, altering how we live in its wake.  Digital processes like automation, AI, blockchain, 3D printing, e-commerce and on-demand labour platforms are all different from one another but, in combination, are re-shaping economic fundamentals and social interactions, domestically and globally. New forms of volatility and precariousness are emerging, along with new forms of market power.  Financial markets are more deeply integrated, increasing the speed of global transmission of shocks, but also fragmenting as cryptocurrencies and other experiments challenge how value is created and used.  The heightened fluidity of change is also affecting how change is measured, and how we deal with change. This iteration of the industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) often seems to outstrip our capacity to govern change (characterised as Government 1.0 by critics), leading to overuse of the term “disruption”.  This summer CABE invites you to catch up with the realities of what’s unfolding, and the responses.

We are very lucky and grateful to start this year’s conference with an off-the-record fireside discussion of key issues on Monday evening by Carolyn A. Wilkins, Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada.  As Canada’s representative to the G20’s Financial Stability Board, Ms Wilkins brings deep experience and expertise to considerations of vulnerabilities in the financial system and the economy, both globally and in Canada.    

Tuesday provides a full day of discussions examining a suite of changes triggered by the impact of technologies:  measurement of macroeconomic variables; innovation in the financial sector; changing investment dynamics; development of infrastructure, including data; and the evolution of labour markets, in Canada and globally.  

Our confirmed speakers and preliminary topics include:

1. Carolyn Wilkins  – Bank of Canada:  (Keynote / Fireside Chat): Big Picture Issues Related to Digitalization
2. James Tebrake – Statistics Canada:  Changing measurement of macro variables
3. Jean Boivin – BlackRock: Financial and Technical Innovations in the Investment Business
4. Jean-Francois Perrault – Scotia Bank: The Impact of Digitization in the Banking Sector
5. Bianca Wylie – CIGI Fellow: Developing Public Policy In a World of Private Data
6. Steven Tobin, Labour Market Information Council and Armine Yalnizyan, CABE President: Labour Market Metamorphosis

This conference has a long and distinguished history. Every August, usually on the last Monday and Tuesday of the month, the Canadian Association for Business Economics (CABE) hosts a policy conference in Kingston, Ontario.   This annual gathering has its roots over 50 years ago as it evolved from the Moneco-Econtro conference which had been organized in Kingston since 1961 by a group of business and government economists to discuss the key issues affecting the Canadian economy.

PLEASE NOTE: The fireside keynote is off-the-record and closed to the press.  Sessions are conducted in English under the Chatham House Rule. https://www.cabe.ca/chatham

Registration Information

Conference proceedings run from Monday (August 27) evening at 18:00, through to 16:45 on Tuesday (August 28). Registration begins at 17:00 on August 28^th.

To access the national member discount, you must be logged in to the web site as a valid national member.

Fees do NOT include hotel accommodation.   A limited block of rooms at the conference rate of $172 plus taxes is being held until July 30^th, 2018. The group block is held under the name CABE CONFERENCE.  Please call the hotel directly at 1-888-548-6726 or (613) 549-8100 to book a room.

The plated evening meal features beef with a seafood appetizer with complementary wine. There is a vegetarian alternative.  The conference provides a breakfast buffet and a plated chicken lunch with vegetarian alternative. Please make sure that meal preferences are indicated on your registration. 

Please use the registrant’s email on the registration. The payment details may have different contact information.
Invoice requests are only processed up to August 15^th 2018.  You must request an invoice using the online payment store, (click on the invoice option).  Invoices requested this way can be settled with a credit card or by cheque. Invoices must be settled prior to the conference to guarantee attendance.

Cancellation Policy: Cancellations must be received in writing prior to August 15th, 2018 to be eligible for a refund. A service charge of $50.00 will apply.  Substitutions are accepted up to conference date.

We request you use credit cards to pay, but if you must pay by cheque, use the store to register for the event and click the invoice option.  An invoice will be sent by email.  Payment by cheque must be received by July 31, 2018 for attendance to be guaranteed or acknowledged.

If you are a non-working retiree, a discount option is available.  Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to confirm your eligibility.

For all information or assistance please contact the CABE Secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or 1-855-CABE321/1-855-222-321.  To register using a credit card go to http://www.cabe.ca/cabestore using  VISA, Master Card or Amex or click the button below.