Advanced notice.  Registration details will be sent to CIC Victoria members on Tuesday, 13 January.

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🍁 Politics in the Pub! Will Carney’s Economic Policies Meet Canada’s Challenges?

When: Monday, 26 January 2026
Where: The Sticky Wicket Pub, Wicket Hall, the Strathcona Hotel, 919 Douglas Street
For: This is a CIC member only event – no guest requests please
Time: 5 – 7:00 pm (doors open at 5 pm)
Speaker: Dr. Christopher Ragan

Our focus:

We are delighted to welcome McGill University economist Chris Ragan to CIC Victoria. Chris will lay out some of the key economic challenges Canada is facing, especially the new ones created by US President Donald Trump’s aggressive economic policies that have also targeted Canada.

The discussion will centre on some of the main policy actions recently undertaken by the federal government, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, including a massive expansion of defence spending, the encouragement of greater business investment, and an attempt to double the country’s rate of home construction. These ambitious policy actions will undoubtedly confront significant challenges, both inside and outside of official Ottawa.

With the formal renewal process for the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) also set to begin on July 1, 2026 a key question is will Canada be ready? The renewal of CUSMA is a critical process that will shape North American trade relations for years to come.

Our speaker:

Christopher Ragan is an Associate Professor of Macroeconomics at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, and from 2017 to 2024 was the School’s founding Director. He was also the co-founder and Chair of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, which from 2014-2019 identified and advocated policies to improve Canada’s environmental and economic performance and from 2016-2019 a member of the federal finance minister’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth. Previously, he held numerous other positions such as the David Dodge Chair in Monetary Policy at the C.D. Howe Institute, the Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at Finance Canada and Special Advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Canada and Editor-in-Chief of World Economic Affairs.

In 2024, Chris was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal for his contributions to Canadian policy. He also writes frequent columns for newspapers, most often in The Globe and Mail, and teaches economics in several MBA and Executive MBA programs. Chris also received his B.A. (Honours) in economics in 1984 from the University of Victoria and his M.A. in economics from Queen’s University in 1985. He then moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts where he completed his Ph.D. in economics at M.I.T. in 1989.