Canadian economist Donald Drummond to speak at York University Nov. 8

Donald Drummond head shot

Donald Drummond, former senior federal civil servant and chief economist at the TD Bank and current Matthews Fellow on Global Public Policy at Queen’s University, will deliver the  2012 McLaughlin Public Policy Lecture at York University on Nov. 8.

Drummond’s talk, “How Did the World Economy Get So Messed Up? Some Old and New Lessons,” takes place at 5:30pm in the McLaughlin College Junior Common Room, 014 McLaughlin College.

Donald Drummond head shotDonald Drummond

“Donald Drummond is, from my perspective, Canada’s leading analyst of issues that affect our economic future.  He has many years of experience as a federal public servant, as well as private sector experience,” says political science Professor Ian Greene, master of McLaughlin College. “We can expect from him a clear analysis about why the world’s economy is in such a mess, and ideas about a way forward. The audience will come away with a better understanding of the current world economic crisis, and hints about what is needed to address the current crisis.”

Until recently, Drummond was the chair of the Ontario Commission on the Reform of Public Services, which set the stage for Ontario’s current austerity program. He was previously chief economist at the TD Bank (2000-2010), where he played a key role in building TD’s reputation as “a think-tank in a bank,” leading TD Economics’ work in analyzing and forecasting economic performance in Canada and abroad.

During almost 23 years at the federal Department of Finance (1977-2000), he held a series of progressively more senior positions in economic analysis and forecasting, fiscal policy and tax policy. His last three positions at the Department of Finance were respectively, assistant deputy minister of fiscal policy & economic analysis, assistant deputy minister of tax policy & legislation, and finally associate deputy minister of finance. In this last position he was responsible for economic analysis, fiscal policy, tax policy, social policy and federal-provincial relations. Drummond was educated at the University of Victoria and Queen’s University, where he completed his MA in economics.

McLaughlin College has arranged to provide a live videostream of the lecture, which will be posted on the McLaughlin College web page.