canadian pacific railway. the building of the cpr was years in the making and involved the hard work and sacrifices of thousands. it was a monumental undertaking – a feat of engineering and nation building. our speakers today have reminded us that our bank notes reflect the people and the society where they are used. canada is a world leader in using innovation for secure bank notes. work on this series started eight years ago, in 2005. it ’ s not that we work slowly at the bank of canada – that ’ s how long it takes to reach new frontiers in bank notes using a new polymer material and state - of - the - art security features. well over 700 million are now in circulation. with this series, the bank sets a global benchmark for currency. it ’ s a big change and we are working closely with the cash handling industry, including financial institutions and retail associations to finalize the transition from paper to polymer and make sure it is a smooth one. and though we are very proud of these bank notes, we are not standing still. bis central bankers ’ speeches that ’ s because neither technology nor counterfeiting stands still. you can be sure that at the bank of canada we will continue to innovate and apply new technologies so that we stay ahead of the counterfeiters. bis central bankers ’ speeches

/ 4 per cent until the end of june 2010. i will elaborate on this conditional commitment in a moment. • in total, since december 2007, we have cut interest rates by 425 basis points to their historic lows and lowest possible levels. it is the bank's judgment that this cumulative easing, together with the conditional commitment to keep rates low for a considerable period, is the appropriate policy stance to move the economy back to full production capacity and to achieve the 2 per cent inflation target. a framework for conducting monetary policy at low interest rates • however, these are uncertain times and if additional stimulus were to become necessary, the bank retains considerable flexibility in the conduct of monetary policy at low interest rates. • we have outlined in detail how we would use that flexibility in conducting monetary policy at the effective lower bound, in the framework published in our recent mpr. in this document, we describe the unconventional instruments that are available, the principles that would govern our use of these tools – should we decide to apply them – and the exit strategies that we would employ when these instruments were no longer necessary. • the three key instruments we have identified for conducting monetary policy at the effective lower bound include : conditional statements about the future path of policy interest rates ; quantitative easing, which involves the creation of central bank reserves to purchase financial assets ; and credit easing, which includes outright purchases of private sector assets. • if required, these instruments could be used separately or in tandem to improve financial conditions in order to support aggregate demand and ultimately achieve the inflation target. • as you are aware, the bank deployed the first instrument on 21 april. as a result of our conditional commitment to keep rates at 25 basis points through the end of june 2010, interest rates across the maturity horizon of the commitment fell. they also dropped relative to those in the u. s. • let me reiterate that the bank's conditional commitment is not a guarantee. it is conditional on the outlook for inflation. we will always set our policy rate at a level consistent with achieving our 2 per cent inflation target over the policy horizon. • similarly, if the bank were to deploy either quantitative easing or credit easing, it would act in a deliberate fashion based on the following principles : ( i ) the focus of these operations would be to improve overall financial conditions in order to support aggregate demand and achieve the inflation target. ( ii ) asset purchases would be concentrated in maturity ranges in order to have the maximum impact on the economy. ( iii