and react quickly to market developments. for example, since the onset of the financial crisis, we have provided considerable liquidity to the canadian financial system, in a variety of forms. we currently auction liquidity three times a week. it is extremely important for a central bank to be transparent in its financial system work. in our financial system review we communicate, on a regular basis, our assessment of the key risks and vulnerabilities, as well as our analysis of certain policy issues. we also provide clear information about our operations. for example, as the bank provided liquidity, we communicated clearly and in a timely fashion, the relevant policies and principles, the facilities we were using, and the scale of our operations, as well as the status of key markets. financial markets have improved to such an extent that the demand for our term liquidity facilities has been waning. of the three facilities that we offer, there is currently no demand for the term loan facility, demand for the facility for private sector instruments has recently been half of what we have been auctioning, and even demand for term purchase and resale agreements, our " workhorse " facility, has declined as conditions in funding markets have improved. against this background, the bank announced yesterday that the first two facilities will expire at the end of october, and that the auctions for the third facility will now be held bi - weekly instead of weekly. of course, the financial system has many interdependent elements, and we again must keep the big picture in mind. this is especially true in our monitoring of the financial system, in our assessment of risks, and in our policy analysis. in the current context, two aspects of our policy work are worth noting. first, there were times during the financial crisis when liquidity dried up in almost all financial markets. however, not all markets are critical to the proper functioning of the financial system, so the bank has been working to identify " core " markets, markets that, through appropriate policies, we would strive to keep operating without interruption, even during a shock. second, because the regulatory system has tended to focus more on individual financial institutions than on interdependencies or systemic risk, the bank of canada, like many other central banks, has been looking at ways to strengthen financial regulation by adding a " macroprudential " orientation – that is, more focus on the system as a whole. i'll turn now to the bank's fourth and

target overnight rate could be expected to remain at its current, very low level until the end of the second quarter of 2010. this longer - term guidance helps to influence interest rates at longer maturities. the bank has also been examining whether the inflation - control framework might be improved. specifically, in advance of the next agreement that we'll sign with the federal government in 2011, we've been studying whether 2 per cent is the best target, and whether the target should be ( as it currently is ) the rate of inflation or the path of the price level. all to say, our monetary policy work really does take a long view of things. now a word about transparency in monetary policy. i've spoken about the tools we use to achieve the inflation target. with regard to our actions, we make our policy rate decisions eight times a year on a fixed schedule, issue a press release each time, and, four times a year, explain our analysis and projections in detail in our monetary policy reports. the outcome of monetary policy – total cpi inflation – is measurable, and our performance is transparent. i should add a word about " core " inflation. the more volatile price components of the cpi – such as fruit, vegetables, and gasoline, as well as the effect of changes in indirect taxes – can cause a good deal of temporary movement in total cpi inflation, so the bank of canada uses a core measure of inflation, which excludes these volatile components, as a useful guide to policy. the core measure of inflation helps us to " see through " short - term volatility when we make our policy decisions. as to keeping the big picture in mind : monetary policy focuses on the canadian economy as a whole, and aims to achieve a national inflation rate. of course, to get a sense of the national economy, we need to closely monitor regional developments. we have five regional offices across the country, including the atlantic region office in halifax, from which our staff go out to visit businesses and gather information on issues related to the economy. we communicate the highlights of this information in our quarterly business outlook survey, which is available on our website. so those are the four areas of responsibility in which the bank of canada works to carry out its mandate. before i conclude, i'll say a few words about the economic outlook and the monetary policy decision announced on 10 september. the press release that accompanied the announcement noted that, following a deep, synchronous, global recession