Speaker:

Mario Seccareccia is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Ottawa where he had been teaching economics since 1978. He has also been a visiting professor at several universities, primarily in France and Mexico. Mario has published over 130 academic articles and edited or co-edited over 50 special issues of peer-reviewed journals and authored or edited over a dozen books. He is also editor of the International Journal of Political Economy and a research associate at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Monetary Policy Institute. Among the recent recognitions, he received the 2017 Sesquicentennial Medal from the Senate of Canada and the 2021 John Kenneth Galbraith Prize in Economics from the Progressive Economics Forum for his academic achievements and for his service to the wider community. Among other activities, since his official retirement in he has actively lobbied for the replacement of the Bank of Canada’s narrow single-goal mandate of a 2 percent inflation target in favour of a multi-goal mandate including full employment and a more equitable distribution of income.

About this event:

Conventional economics tells us there is no difference between you, me and the Federal government. We all need to balance our budgets. But what if the Federal government creates our money? Why then should it be bound by the same rules of household finance? In 1995 the Chrétien government slashed spending, raised taxes and cut transfers to the provinces – and in Ontario, Mike Harris downloaded to municipalities. The upshot was lower government spending, more household debt, and plummeting household savings. Other countries did the same and it all culminated in the Great Financial Crash and a deep recession. Today, after COVID, we are once again hearing calls for austerity and high interest rates. Are these really a solution to Canada’s economic ills or are there alternatives?