Understanding

Talk about AI is everywhere.

Last week, the City of Kelowna's announced it is working with Microsoft to develop an AI chatbot that automates permit applications and answers’ questions about the city’s zoning bylaws and the official plans. As the chatbot is expected to save frontline staff 20-40% of their time answering the same question, it highlights the potential of artificial intelligence to streamline government operations.

As AI continues to advance, it has the potential to quickly transform how government operates and interacts with citizens. How else will AI affect how different levels of government operate? What are the trade-offs, potential privacy and ethical concerns?

In 2017, the Canadian government launched the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which is a collaborative effort between the federal government, industry, and academia to advance AI research and development in the country. The Canadian government has established several initiatives to promote the ethical use of AI, including the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) AI and Society Program and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence.

Given where we are now, what else should it do? What are your thoughts on how the Canadian Federal Government should respond to the sudden emergence of AI tools like ChatGPT and other related AI tools?

B.C. city develops AI tool to speed up building permit applications | CBC News The City of Kelowna could be the first municipality in B.C. to use artificial intelligence to expedite housing permit approvals, according to staff.

The federal government released the 2023-24 budget today. Join us next Tuesday, April 4th from 6:00-6:30 pm (Pacific time) to learn more about what's in this year's budget. In this webinar we'll speak about what's new, what it means, and how the long-term outlook has changed.

Click here to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/understanding-where-your-taxes-go-a-look-at-the-2023-24-federal-budget-tickets-579700348347

Our next edition of Thought Experiments discussion will be happening on April 13th. Here is a look back at our February discussion where we explored the impact of AI on society and how society can shape how it is integrated.

Thanks to everyone who joined our webinar about provincial government spending yesterday evening. Here we took a closer look at the specific programs that make up Alberta's social spending, representing 12% of total budget in its recently released 2023-24 budget.

Thank you everyone who joined the first webinar where we took a look at municipal government spending in Canada. The webinar focused on the 2023 budgets for Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto.

This is where took a closer look at the top 5 operating expenses in Vancouver and found police, fire & rescue, and the three main utilities as the primary operating costs for the city.

It was another good session yesterday evening with some interesting questions about federal government borrowing over the pandemic. This slide is from where we took a look at recent year and future near-term forecasted federal government deficits.

The Bank of Canada announced last week that it lost $522 million in the third quarter, the first time its incurred losses in its 87-year history.

How does this happen?

In short, Canada’s central bank is now paying a higher interest rate on deposits than it is earning on the money it has effectively lent out (through the purchase of Government of Canada bonds). As the Globe and Mail reported this week, it is now paying an overnight rate of 3.75% on commercial bank balances while generating a weighted-average yield of 0.65% on government bonds the Bank of Canada bought during the pandemic.

Why did this happen?

This situation is a result of the unique circumstances of Quantitative Easing (or QE), which the Bank of Canada adopted in the early stages of the pandemic, being shortly followed by a rapid rise in interest rates to combat inflation. Quantitative Easing is what led to the significant rise in settlement balances, effectively commercial bank deposits, held by the Bank of Canada.

Do these losses affect federal government finances?

Prior to the pandemic the Bank of Canada, as a Crown Corporation, would typically earn and remit ~$1 billion to the federal government. While Quantitative Easing initially increased this remittance to over ~$2 billion per year, the rapid rise in interest rates has now reversed this. The Bank of Canada is expecting it will lose between $5-$6 billion over the next few years as the conditions continue before returning to positive net interest income in 2024 or 2025.

Is the Bank of Canada the only central bank losing money?

The Bank of Canada isn’t alone as other central banks have also started to report losses. For instance the Reserve Bank of Australia has recorded a $36.7 billion dollar loss.

Some articles and reports that explore the issue are included in the comments below.

Thanks to everyone who joined for the first class about the Canadian Federal Government this week. This slide is where we covered the biggest federal government departments, the top being the Department of Defence with approximately 90,000 staff.