mr. thiessen ’ s remarks to the canadian club of toronto notes for remarks by the governor of the bank of canada, mr. gordon thiessen, to the canadian club of toronto in toronto, on 1 / 12 / 97. what can monetary policy do to help the economy reach its full potential? today, we meet against a backdrop of some uncertainty in the international economy. i would like to begin my remarks with an assessment of what the recent financial and economic events in asia could mean for canada. the nervousness and uncertainty that spread around the world in the wake of the problems in southeast asia highlight the growing interactions among national economies and financial markets. the events in asia also underscore how crucial prudent macroeconomic policies and sound financial sector management are to good economic performance. the measures that have been taken, mainly through the international monetary fund, are important first steps for the affected asian economies in dealing with their problems. i believe that these measures have helped to contain at least some of the potential spillover effects to other countries and, thus, they are helping to settle global financial markets. canada ’ s direct trade links with southeast asia are not large. however, those with japan and korea are more important to us, and there are also potential effects on our other trading partners that need to be taken into account. the problems in asia and their possible implications for the world economy are probably the source of some of the recent softening in world commodity prices. because of the importance of commodities to canada, this softening has been a factor behind the recent weakness in our currency. our judgment at this stage is that the overall impact of these recent developments on canada does not look likely to be large. however, we are sensitive to the fact that some industries and regions will be affected more than others. i can assure you that we will continue to monitor the situation very closely, in view of the uncertainty that remains about the likely outcome of events in asia. even with this uncertainty, however, recent suggestions that there is a risk of worldwide deflation strike me as being very pessimistic. developments in asia will slow somewhat the pace of global economic expansion. but as long as the world ’ s largest economy, the united states, is pressing against its capacity limits, with the possibility of upward pressure on its inflation rate, the risk of worldwide deflation looks rather remote. certainly, from canada ’ s perspective, the u. s. economy is by far the most important influence

around financial sector workforce data, so that everyone has a clear idea of where we are doing well as an industry and where we https : / / www. mas. gov. sg / news / speeches / 2020 / gearing - up - for - new - and - evolving - jobs - in - financial - services 3 / 18 04 / 12 / 2020 " gearing up for new and evolving jobs in financial services " - remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director, monetary authorit … need to do better. the growing timber series takes its inspiration from the green shoots series. green shoots is a webinar series which mas launched in april this year to keep alive the fintech spirit and the drive for innovation amid the throes of the covid - 19 circuit breaker. these regular engagements have been hugely successful in raising awareness, promoting collaboration, and sustaining investments in fintech firms – so much so that we are looking at a record year for fintech investments in 2020. growing timber and green shoots represent the two key horizontals of mas ’ developmental strategies for the financial sector – jobs and skills ; and technology and innovation. let me set out the key dimensions of the financial sector jobs and skills agenda that we will cover over the next few months under the growing timber series : job opportunities – what are the new jobs being created and how to access these jobs ; job readiness – how can we prepare our tertiary students so that they are job - ready when they embark on a career in the financial sector ; job retention – keeping our mid - career workers employed through upskilling amid new skills demands ; job redeployment – reskilling mid - career workers in jobs that are being transformed by technology and pivoting them to new careers ; job specialisation – deepening skills and capabilities in highly specialised areas in strong demand ; and job leadership – grooming promising singaporeans for leadership roles at [UNK] levels. today, i will cover the first three dimensions of the jobs and skills agenda – namely, job opportunities, job readiness, and job retention. job opportunities https : / / www. mas. gov. sg / news / speeches / 2020 / gearing - up - for - new - and - evolving - jobs - in - financial - services 4 / 18 04 / 12 / 2020 " gearing up for new and evolving jobs in financial services " - remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director, monetary authorit … the financial sector provides good job opportunities. financial services employs a