shifts. at present, an estimated 26. 3 % of our total population is between the ages of 25 to 40 years old. this represents a group of better - educated individuals, used to unfettered access to information. they are likely to have higher expectations on public service. the era of “ government knows best ” is a past participle. our engagements must therefore adapt and respond to evolving norms of our society. these are some of the challenges we are facing. the challenges are enormous yet exciting. the public sector must be ready to steer and lead the nation onto a new, uncharted path with confidence, certainty and conviction. this is a heavy responsibility. what we do today will have ramifications on the future of our children and our children ’ s children. we must rethink the way we formulate policies, the way we deliver on our mandates and the way we think about public policy. 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches today, i would like to speak about three possible characteristics that will be necessary for the public sector to navigate the challenges of the future. these are : integrity, agility and validity of measurement. integrity : the courage to take the road less travelled as public servants, our duty is to serve and protect the public interest. our legitimacy is strengthened by their confidence. discharging this responsibility will become more challenging as we move forward : priorities and needs will continue to expand faster than our resources. in these times, moral courage, integrity and transparency will be more important than ever. we must be brave enough to pursue the right course of action, doing the right thing, unpopular as they may be in the short - term. we must also be accountable for our decisions. this requires that we engage and communicate with the public as never before, explaining clearly the rationale of our policies. it is also important that we foster a culture and environment that prioritises these values at the level of the individual. the integrity of the public sector rests on the strength of character of each and every public official, without any exception. this will require leadership, incentives and structures that will enable individuals to be clear - eyed and independent - minded. this is a spirit best summed up in mahatma gandhi ’ s words : “ even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth. ” integrity is best demonstrated through the transparency and thoroughness of disclosures. the publication of financial and non - financial information is the central means by which

regulations and standards by early 2009. another example is the agreement, earlier this year, between ontario and quebec to allow some further, albeit limited, movement of construction workers between the two provinces. earlier this month, two temporary " foreign - worker units " started operating in vancouver and calgary to facilitate the entry of skilled foreign workers into canada. and just last week, the committee of ministers responsible for internal trade agreed on an action plan that embraces efforts across a range of internal trade issues. all this is encouraging because considerably more needs to be done to enhance the flexibility and functioning of our internal markets from coast to coast. business regulations and standards, including those for the financial sector, need to be harmonized across canada. dispute resolution and enforcement under the ait need to be strengthened. and, to make our labour markets more flexible, trades and professional designations should be recognized and fully transferable across the country. based on a recent survey, more than one - third of all workers and about half of all foreign - trained workers still have problems getting their credentials recognized across canadian jurisdictions. 1 how flexible is the canadian economy? the good news is that, despite the challenges that we still face, overall, our economy fares well in international comparisons of flexibility and adaptability. in a 2005 study, the international monetary fund ( imf ) concluded that " canada is characterized by a relatively high degree of flexibility, of a magnitude comparable if not larger than many other industrialized countries, with the likely exception of the united states. " 2 for purposes of this study, the imf looked at different indicators of economic flexibility – with uniform results. for example, the reallocation of production resources across sectors, in response to changing economic conditions over the 1980 - 2000 period, was quite high in canada compared with other major industrialized countries ( except the united states ) - indicating a high degree of economic flexibility. the imf also compared rates of firm turnover, and of job creation and destruction, across countries. both of these measures were relatively high for canada - again suggesting a high degree of flexibility. other measures of the way in which our economy responds to macroeconomic disturbances also point in the same direction. as of the first quarter of 2006, interprovincial migration has shown a marked increase over the past two years to 333, 000 individuals, representing over one per cent of the total canadian population. not surprisingly, the two provinces with a net positive inflow over this period are alberta and british columbia. and a