Municipal Fiscal Accountability Panel
Roundtable Luncheon with Bill Forward, Bill Hughes, William Robson, Peter Wallace
Please join us for a roundtable luncheon on municipal fiscal accountability with Bill Forward, Previous Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing; Bill Hughes, Commissioner of Finance and Treasurer for the Regional Municipality of York; Bill Robson, President and CEO, C.D. Howe Institute; and Peter Wallace, City Manager at the City of Toronto.
Please note that this event will be on-the-record, media will be present, and presentations and Q&A will be recorded.
Bill Forward joined the Mowat Centre after spending a number of years in the Ontario Public Service. He has served as the Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and has held interim assignments as Deputy Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Aboriginal Affairs, and Economic Development and Trade. He has also held Assistant Deputy Minister roles in the ministries of Training, Colleges and Universities, Economic Development and Trade, Public Infrastructure Renewal, International Trade and Investment, and Intergovernmental Affairs. William spent several years in the federal government at the Department of Finance and the Science Council of Canada. He holds a M.Sc. in Economics from the University of London (UK) and a B.A. and M.A. in Political Science from York University. His research interests include public finance, intergovernmental relations, economic development and program evaluation.
Bill Hughes is the Commissioner of Finance and Regional Treasurer for the Regional Municipality of York. He is responsible for managing the Region’s $2.7-billion combined operating and capital budget, one of the largest among Ontario municipalities. Bill is also responsible for the Region’s procurement and information technology services.
Bill held progressively senior roles in the Ontario government, mainly at the Ministry of Finance and at the Ministry of Infrastructure. Prior to joining the Region in 2011, he was the Assistant Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Policy and Planning. Bill also worked for both upper and lower-tier municipal governments.
He has Master of Business Administration and Master of Environmental Studies degrees from York University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and executive designations from the Rotman School of Business. Bill is also a lecturer at the University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance, where he co-teaches a course on policy development.
Bill Robson took office as President and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute in July 2006, after serving as the Institute’s Senior Vice President since 2003 and Director of Research since 2000. He has written more than 190 books, chapters, articles and monographs on such subjects as government budgets, pensions, healthcare financing, inflation and currency issues. His work has won awards from the Policy Research Secretariat, the Canadian Economics Association, and the Donner Canadian Foundation. Bill lectured on public finance and public policy at the University of Toronto from 2000 to 2003 and is a Senior Fellow at Massey College. He holds an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors, and serves as an advisor to, or director of, several education-related and public affairs organizations.
Peter Wallace began his public service career with the Government of Ontario in 1981 and over more than 32 years established a legacy of distinguished leadership. He served as Secretary to Cabinet and Head of the Ontario Public Service in addition to Deputy Minister of Finance and Secretary to Treasury Board. Other senior positions include Deputy Minister of Energy and Associate Secretary of Cabinet and Deputy Minister, Policy. Most recently, he was the Ontario Public Service Visiting Fellow at the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto.
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