March 17, 2011 – William Robson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the C.D. Howe Institute, today announced the appointment of Donald Drummond as Co-Chair of the Institute's Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness Council, commencing in May 2011.
“Don is one of Canada’s pre-eminent economists and fiscal policy experts,” said Mr. Robson. “His experience at the federal Department of Finance and TD Financial Group, and his incisive analysis of governments' budgetary policies, make him ideal to Co-Chair the Council.”
“The Council’s work is particularly critical in view of the financial and demographic challenges facing policy leaders at the federal and provincial levels,” added Mr. Robson. “There is an urgent need for governments at all levels to ensure that their deficits (and debts) are back on a downward track before the pressure of population aging on government finances intensifies.”
The FTCC comprises 35 of Canada's leading fiscal and tax policy experts, drawn from business, academia, and the public sector. It is a key source of advice for the C.D. Howe Institute's research in fiscal policy and central in the expert external review of the Institute's work. Its work provides key analysis and advice to Canadian governments as they work to improve the effectiveness of their programs, make their taxes more growth-friendly, and bolster their balance sheets in the years ahead.
Don Drummond was most recently Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the TD Bank, 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.
Upon his decision to retire from TD in 2010, he was named as the Matthews Fellow and Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University.
Mr. Drummond was educated at the University of Victoria and Queen’s University, where he completed his M.A. in Economics. During almost 23 years at the federal Department of Finance, 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 Associate Deputy Minister. In this last position he was responsible for economic analysis, fiscal policy, tax policy, social policy and federal-provincial relations. Mr. Drummond coordinated the planning of annual federal budgets. He joined the TD Bank in June 2000.
Mr. Drummond will be replacing Robert D. Brown, FCA, who has co-chaired the Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness Council since its creation in 2005, and is a former Chair of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Board of Directors. As a former Chair of Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP), a past Chair of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Canadian Tax Foundation, and a former Clifford Clark Visiting Economist to the Department of Finance, he has been a critical intellectual supporter of the Institute’s work, and a consistent champion of effective and efficient spending and tax programs. “I thank Bob for his outstanding leadership, and look forward to continuing to work with him as a member of the Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness Council, and Honorary Director of the C.D. Howe Institute,” said Mr. Robson.
The Institute is also very pleased that William A. MacKinnon, FCA, is continuing his leadership role as a Co-Chair of the Council. Mr. MacKinnon is a former Chief Executive Officer of KPMG Canada, and a past member of our Board of Directors.
Media contact: James Fleming. 416-865-1904