. namely : that we are committed to performance that is second to none among the central banks of the world. it was a challenging goal then, and it still is. but we ’ re getting there. we ’ re doing outstanding work in monetary policy ; i ’ m very proud of the way we have continued to meet our inflation control targets. in the area of currency we ’ re producing new bank notes in the canadian journey series. the new $ 100 bill represents the first of three new notes being issued this year ; notes that are designed to be secure, durable and well - accepted. here at the bank we are fostering an ongoing atmosphere of trust, respect and innovation through our strong system of values. we continue to place a strong emphasis on research and analysis in all aspects of our work. how else is our commitment to excellence in evidence? there are the partnerships we are cultivating both within and outside the bank. we are communicating clearly and openly. we are nurturing leadership at all levels. and we are cultivating diversity, both of people and of ideas. together, in all of these ways, we have been achieving excellence. the third commitment we made was to each other. we were clear that we wanted our work environment to be founded on a strong set of values. the first of these is that we articulate our own ideas and listen to those of others. we agreed to share knowledge and experience so that we could all learn from each other. then, there was a pledge to develop our talent and careers to achieve personal excellence. your own development, of course, has always rested first and foremost with you. but the bank has been providing some of the impetus, and helping to create an environment that is conducive to learning and growing and an environment where the two official languages are used interchangeably. “ knowledge sharing ” is vital to our organization. i hope that together we can progress further in making the bank a true knowledge - sharing institution as we complete our medium - term plan. and while the bank is encouraging you to excel by developing yourself, there is also the recognition of the fact that you have a life outside the bank. we committed ourselves to working in an environment where each employee is respected. when we respect each other as individuals, then we can have the kind of debates that we need to help us become the best we can be. we can have clashes of ideas secure in the knowledge that there are no winners or losers. or rather, that we

, geopolitical tensions have increased, primarily because of russia's invasion of ukraine. this has created a lot of volatility and uncertainty in global commodity markets, especially energy. and third, we have a legacy of debt coming out of the covid - 19 crisis. governments around the world took extraordinary measures to support people and businesses through economic shutdowns. businesses - particularly in hard - to - distance sectors - have endured a difficult few years, and some took on additional debt to get through them. 2 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches and while some individuals and households were able to accumulate extra savings over the pandemic, others took on additional debt. these three forces - inflation, volatility in commodity and financial markets, and increased levels of debt - are not unique to canada. most countries around the world are facing these same challenges right now. but the impact on each country will depend, at least in part, on the resilience of that country's financial system - which in turn depends on those pre - existing vulnerabilities i just described. and given how interconnected the global financial system has become, and the fact that canada is a medium - sized, open economy, the impact here at home will also depend on how other countries weather the storm. housing and financial stability let's now take a closer look at two vulnerabilities we're watching closely - household debt and housing - and their relationship to financial stability. housing is certainly top of mind for many canadians these days. if you were to dig up the bank of canada's reports on financial system stability that i just mentioned, you would find analyses dating as far back as 2006 on escalating housing prices and increasing household debt. in other words, these two vulnerabilities have existed in canada's financial system for a long time. the buildup of these vulnerabilities continued after the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. canada's financial system sailed through that shock relatively smoothly, and our economy recovered more quickly than most. a decade of low interest rates, a growing population and constrained housing supply all combined to feed a steady march upward in house prices. higher house prices meant canadians were taking on more debt to buy homes. and as prices continued to rise quickly, some canadians saw housing as an investment opportunity as well as a source of shelter and took on additional debt to invest in housing. well before the arrival of covid - 19 canadians