in such key areas as labour markets, financial markets, and the markets for some services. different criteria for professional certification of tradespeople, different provincial securities regulations, and different rules related to transportation come readily to mind. by and large, this kind of diversity does not serve us well. so it is very important that we also harmonize regulatory standards at home. while most of the regulatory integration issues i have spoken about tonight apply to labour and capital markets as well as markets for goods and services, i want to make a couple of points specifically related to further integration in labour and capital markets. labour market integration would be greatly aided if canada and the united states had procedures in place - procedures that were rapid, simple, and inexpensive - to grant work permits allowing citizens of either country to cross the border to take up jobs. needless to say, this would be easier to negotiate if we were to simultaneously adopt a common immigration security perimeter for north america, although, logically, adoption of such a perimeter is not a prerequisite. to ensure that there are real welfare gains, initiatives to open up labour markets would also call for greater harmonization of licensing standards, so that people could actually be employed on both sides of the border. of course, a good first step in this area would be harmonization of policies and adoption of common licensing standards in labour markets across provinces within canada! canadian and u. s. capital markets are already highly integrated and, as i said earlier, canadians ( and americans ) have benefited greatly from this open, transparent, and competitive market. as we all seek to improve corporate governance and to achieve greater transparency in the wake of recent corporate scandals, this is a real opportunity to achieve greater harmonization of rules in north america - not to mention globally. there is a willingness at the moment, on the part of authorities everywhere, to try to find a reasonable mix of principles and rules for accounting standards and securities regulation. we should seize the opportunity - and i believe we are in the process of doing so - to achieve greater uniformity of standards, not only with the united states but also among canadian provinces. in sum, to achieve maximum economic benefits, harmonization of regulatory standards and practices, particularly with respect to capital and labour markets, should be a priority as we move forward. economic integration and monetary union one last issue i would like to address briefly tonight is that of monetary integration. i have been asked the question, if there was a political decision in canada to

david dodge : summary of the latest monetary policy report opening statement by mr david dodge, governor of the bank of canada, at a press conference following the release of the monetary policy report update, ottawa, 27 january 2005. * * * today, we released the update to our october monetary policy report. the update reviews economic and financial trends in the context of canadaa€™s inflation - control strategy. the outlook for the canadian economy continues to be shaped by global developments, including the realignment of world currencies. the near - term outlook for the global economy is a touch weaker than projected in the october report, but more solidly based because of somewhat lower oil prices and greater confidence in the momentum of the u. s. economy. we expect the canadian economy to operate a little further below its full production capacity in 2005 than was anticipated at the time of the last report, largely reflecting the dampening effects on aggregate demand of the recent appreciation of the canadian dollar. for 2006, we project growth to pick up to slightly more than 3 per cent, consistent with returning the economy to its production capacity in the second half of the year, and returning core inflation to 2 per cent around the end of 2006. in line with this revised outlook, the pace of reduction in monetary stimulus is likely to be slower than that envisioned in the october report. there are both upside and downside risks around the outlook, which continue to relate to the adjustment to global developments. as circumstances change, we always need to be ready to re - assess the policy implications.