interest rates and a depreciation of the canadian dollar. obviously, more targeted labour market policies lie beyond the bank ’ s purview. still, it makes sense for policymakers to address impediments that make it hard for workers to be matched up with those half - million job vacancies. there may be new ways of helping people deal with the risks involved in relocation, or overcome regional barriers to job matching. for example, there may be areas where we could make it easier for skilled workers and professionals to recertify to qualify for a job in a different province. we may also be able to learn from international experience in terms of improving our educational, training and retraining programs. i mentioned earlier that, despite low unemployment, people express a sense of dissatisfaction and unease about their future. it is possible that the distribution of income is contributing to this. total labour income as a share of the canadian economy began to trend downward nearly 30 years ago and has remained in a lower range for the past 10 – 15 years. opportunities for globalization of supply chains and the steady increase in automation technology have no doubt reduced employee bargaining power over time, not to mention declining union membership. 3 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches bearing in mind that globalization and automation also generate economic growth that benefits everyone, it is clear that there is no simple solution to this. however, it is a useful metric to track when considering alternative policy ideas. yesterday ’ s decision all that said, the canadian labour market has certainly been important to the economy ’ s resilience. its strength has helped support the growth in incomes and household consumption that we have seen. however, it is just one factor that the bank ’ s governing council looks at when we sit down to take our monetary policy decisions. let me turn now to yesterday ’ s announcement. it is important that we put recent developments into proper context. business investment has been falling short of expectations in canada for the past three years. six months ago, we were seeing signs that the us – china trade war was beginning to affect canadian exports and investment even further. in october, we pointed to canada ’ s two - track economy, where soft exports and investment were being offset by a recovering housing sector, a strong labour market and solid consumer spending. but we were concerned that the effects of the trade war could eventually tilt the balance of risks against us. with the economy operating very close to its potential, the unemployment rate near historic lows and inflation

ensures their views are not influenced by those of more senior members. the senior deputy governor speaks next, followed lastly by the governor. they express their views, which leads to further discussions. we then go around the table again, with members presenting their opinions on monetary policy and debating the rate decision. 4 / 7 bis - central bankers'speeches the process is not set in stone. the content and format of our discussions are adapted to the situation and vary depending on our thinking about the economic environment and risk landscape. for example, when i started at the bank in march 2023, a number of regional banks in the united states had just failed. questions about financial stability were at the forefront of our discussions. in recent months, an important focus of our discussions has been the stickiness of inflation in prices for certain services, including shelter. but how is the decision actually reached after all of these deliberations? unlike other central banks, such as the us federal reserve or the bank of england, where members vote, the bank of canada makes decisions by consensus. members must therefore all agree on the course of action, even if we had different points of view when we walked into the rasminsky room. and it might not come as a surprise that we do not always agree on everything. in fact, it's completely normal that members have differences of opinion. after all, each member of governing council has distinct expertise stemming from their past experiences and educational background. but the diversity of our expertise is exactly what makes it possible to have detailed and constructive discussions that lead to informed decision - making. so, how do we arrive at a consensus despite our differences of opinion? here, the organic nature of our deliberations plays a key role. at times, points raised by other members may lead us to fine - tune or rethink the way we've interpreted the data. or a colleague may raise a point or highlight issues that others had not originally considered. in my opinion, the need to arrive at a consensus strengthens our decision - making process. we must carefully consider the diversity of opinions within governing council and discuss among ourselves to arrive at a common position. i should also mention that reaching a consensus does not mean that all members of governing council share the same point of view on the economic outlook or the path for interest rates in the coming months. it means that members come to an agreement about the best decision to make at a particular moment in time. 2 and the truth is that