therefore means that the country ’ s income is increasing. a falling terms of trade, on the other hand, means less income for the country overall. as a major exporter of resources, canada saw its terms of trade move sharply higher from 2001 through 2008, and this was largely maintained until mid - 2014. since then, however, falling world prices for oil and other commodities have reversed much of that rise. measured at annual rates, this represents a loss of more than $ 50 billion in national income, or about $ 1, 500 for every canadian. this shock is leading to significant and complex economic adjustments in canada – in effect, a reversal of the forces that drove our economy during the years when resource prices were rising. to help understand these forces, let ’ s recall what happened to the economy during the period of rising oil prices. back in 2002, when oil prices were around us $ 25 per barrel, investment in the oil and gas sector represented about 17 per cent of total business investment here in canada. by 2014, that figure had jumped to 30 per cent. the share of oil and gas in canada ’ s merchandise exports almost tripled over that same period. this rise in the importance of our energy sector was a natural response to higher prices for oil – because the world was offering more for each barrel, we invested more in our capacity, and more canadians moved to work in the oil patch. this is also why the impact of the sudden drop in oil prices has been so large. net importers of natural resources, such as the united states and europe, are seeing the opposite phenomenon. their overall income is now higher because import prices are lower relative to their export prices. but other commodity - intensive economies, such as australia, mexico, chile and brazil, are working through conditions similar to those here in canada. of course, most countries have a diverse domestic economic structure. certainly, that is the case here in canada. so, just as we see divergence in economic performance between countries in response to lower resource prices, so, too, we see divergence within canada, among our different sectors and geographic regions. for example, the unemployment rate in the energy - intensive provinces – alberta, saskatchewan, and newfoundland and labrador – has risen more than two percentage points since november 2014, while it has remained unchanged in the rest of the country. this bis central bankers ’ speeches divergence is also evident in consumer spending. for example, motor vehicle sales have fallen by about 10 per cent

two years have been marked by research on the effect of the fixed announcement date process includes : nicolas parent ( 2002 - 2003, " transparency and the response of interest rates to the publication of macroeconomic data, " bank of canada review [ winter 2002 - 2003 ] 2934 ), who discovered that the publication of canadian macroeconomic data has had a greater impact on canadian shortterm interest rates following the introduction of fixed announcement dates ; grahame johnson ( 2003, " measuring interest rate expectations in canada, " bank of canada review [ summer 2003 ] 17 - 27 ), who found that current money - market yields have become better predictors of future overnight interest rates ; and jason andreou ( 2005, " estimating the impact of monetary policy surprises on fixed - income markets, " bank of canada review [ summer 2005 ] 11 - 19 ), who showed that there have been fewer surprises in target overnight interest rates, and that the impact of any surprise in the target interest rate on longer - term interest rates has diminished. sustained low volatility. lower interest rates and reduced volatility have certainly benefited canadian borrowers, and, by extension, improved the investment climate. although both u. s. and canadian 10 - year benchmark bonds show a trend decline in volatility since the early 1980s, in the past six years or so, the volatility of canadian 10 - year bonds has been lower than that of their u. s. equivalent. the explicit inflation target in canada may well be anchoring inflation expectations here more strongly than in the united states. improved canadian fiscal policy since the mid - 1990s has also played a role in the relative decline in volatility in canada, as the upside risk to the future path of the debt - to - gdp ratio has diminished. however, when we turn to other asset markets - particularly equities, but also house prices and currency - we don't see any significant trend decline in volatility. the fact that there has not been a significant downward trend in stock market volatility or in the volatility of other financial assets - against a backdrop of lower macroeconomic volatility - is a bit of a puzzle. let's look at the volatility of the toronto stock exchange. as you can see, there is no clear trend in the volatility of the s & p / tsx composite index over the past 25 years, although the past two years, on average, do show a reduced