March 2014

Executive Director Rick Smith's closing comments at the Progress Summit

Bon matin tout le monde.

What a fantastic energizing weekend it has been. Many important conversations. New friends. Lots of great ideas to act on.

Let me thank our speakers, our staff, our volunteers, and all of you for your active engagement. Je veux remercier l’équipe extrêmement dévoué de l’Institut Broadbent. Il m’est un grand honneur de travailler à vos côtés.

We are the inheritors of the best country...

Full speech: Julia Gillard addresses the Progress Summit

Check against delivery.

Julia Gillard
Ottawa; Saturday, March 29, 2014

Thank you Ed for that kind introduction and thanks to you, Rick, the Board and staff of the Broadbent Institute for the invitation to speak today.

In my home town in Australia, Adelaide, it is going to be 32 degrees today but the warmth of the welcome I have received has compensated for the difference between that and the freezing Ottawa air. So I am simply delighted to be here to join you for this important event.

...

Jim Flaherty’s Keynesian moment, and its mixed results

Former Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will be rightly remembered for the 2009 federal Budget which provided much-needed fiscal stimulus to boost a crisis-ridden Canadian economy and helped set the stage for recovery.

While the government was reluctant to act, domestic political as well as international pressure from the G20 forced even strict fiscal conservatives such as Prime Minister Harper and Minister Flaherty to find their inner Keynes.

Short-term infrastructure projects put many unemployed Canadians back to work, and extended unemployment benefits made a big difference...