Before the council, Ostry had been head of Statistics Canada and after leaving she took up a number of senior positions at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the then Department of International Trade, and some universities.
They were expected to participate in a consensus process to set priorities for the council's research and analysis and were collectively responsible for the conclusions and recommendations contained in its major reports and statements.
Moreover, there had been a perception of insufficient research focus on longer-term economic and social problems leading to ad hoc policy and program treatments.
However, when the Council realized the difficulty in separating short- from long-term policy objectives and adopted shorter term horizons using three-year performance indicators in 1972,[15] tension between it and Finance arose and remained.
The first major change, occurring in the mid-1970s during a period of rapid inflation, was a weakening of board consensus, one of the distinguishing features of the Council model.
In response to rising inflation, the federal government, in 1974, prepared to introduce wage and price controls which the labour movement adamantly opposed.
[19] However, this must be viewed as part of a larger labour withdrawal from government—not specifically aimed at the council, as it remained highly critical of the government's anti-inflationary policies.
[19] Nevertheless, this lack of strong labour representation may have negatively impacted the council's credibility as a fully consultative body (though much research was carried out in the following years, as the final section shows).
Also, these research organizations could generally be speedier in their economic commentary, as many were not constrained by the need for the time-consuming activity of consensus-building within their boards when publishing reports, as the council was.
The Council has performed a valuable service over the years, but at this time of restraint, the government has had to carefully assess priorities for the limited funding available for arm's-length research and advice.
In its words: "In the years since the creation of the Council, there ha[d] been a considerable growth in the number and quality of organizations and individuals outside government conducting independent research on economic issues.
However, a potential reason cited in the press[26] was its estimation of a "low" cost of Quebec separation from Canada, which finding ran counter to the federal government's obvious orientation toward unity.
The council was required by legislation to publish an Annual Review containing a report on medium/long-term economic prospects and problems for Canada, which it did every year from 1964 to 1991.
The final products of these studies came in the form of a Research Report and/or Statement, the latter being a condensed version of the former for press-release purposes and wider dissemination and containing recommendations.
Among the subjects covered by these studies, as highlighted above, were the following: trade, skills and education, the effects of technological change on jobs, pensions, financial regulation, community and regional economic development, the Canada-USA Trade Agreement, education and training, poverty, productivity, the growth of the service sector, and the social and economic impacts of immigration.
Over the life of the council, the topics covered by Reference Reports comprise the following: factors affecting prices, costs, productivity and incomes in the context of sustained economic growth; consumer protection policies, combines and mergers, and intellectual property (three separate reports); construction cyclicality; the Newfoundland economy; inflation (by the Centre for the Study of Inflation and Productivity, an agency of the council; economic regulation; and the Prairies grain economy].
A list and short descriptions of the Reference studies, along with the Reference Report titles, follow: "Incomes Policy" In 1965, the federal government asked the council to conduct a broad examination of prices, costs, incomes and productivity, and their relationships to sustained economic growth, rising living standards, and high levels of employment and trade.
Prices, Productivity and Employment, Third Annual Review, Chapters 3, 4 and 5 https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2018/ecc/EC21-1-1966-eng.pdf Consumer protection policies, combines and mergers, and intellectual property In 1966, the federal government requested that the council study and advise it on important aspects of responsibility of the Department of the Registrar General of Canada: (1) the interests of the consumer relating to the functions of the Department of the Registrar General (consumer affairs/protection); (2) combines, mergers, monopolies and restraint of trade (competition policy); and (3) patents, trademarks, copyrights and registered industrial designs (intellectual property).
Toward More Stable Growth in Construction: Report of the Study on Cyclical Instability in Construction, 1974 https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2019/ecc/EC22-2174-1973-eng.pdf Newfoundland economy In 1978, the prime minister directed the council to carry out a special study of economic development problems and opportunities in Newfoundland, including an assessment of the relationship between its persistent high unemployment and low economic performance, as well as an analysis of alternative means of reducing unemployment, raising earned incomes, reducing its dependence on transfers, and assisting to plan its medium-term development strategy.
The prime minister supported the collaboration, and funding was provided by the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, the federal Department of Agriculture, and three private sector organizations.
The final report was published by the Industrial Relations Centre of Queen's University, along with a number of other papers in the Human Resources Management Project Series.
The Canadian Workplace in Transition, Final Report of the Human Resource Management Project, by Gordon Betcherman, Kathryn McMullen, Norm Leckie, and Christina Caron, Industrial Relations Centre, Queen's University at Kingston, 1994. https://archive.org/details/canadianworkplac0000betc Cost-effectiveness of health care This study was requested by the federal government.
It was moved to UOttawa with active support from three provincial governments (British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan) along with 13 public and private organizations.
A review article by Judith Maxwell and Terry Albert was published on the Europe PMC website: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/10140965 Sustainable Health Care for Canada: Sustainable Health Care for Canada: Final synthesis report, by Angus, Douglas, Ludwig Auer, J. Eden Cloutier and Terry Albert, Queen's–University of Ottawa Economic Projects, Ottawa, 1995 https://bac-lac.on.worldcat.org/search?queryString=no:35910247 Reflecting the council's mandated consultation role, a large part of its activity was, sometimes sponsoring in partnership with other organizations to convene government and academic researchers, conferences, colloquia, and workshops.
National Conference on Labour-Management Relations, Ottawa, Canada, March 21–22, 1967 (6 papers + summary): https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2019/ecc/EC22-367-1967-eng.pdf The Conference was asked in particular to focus its attention on two important problem areas in the field of labour-management relations in Canada in the 1960s: how to deal effectively and equitably with manpower adjustment problems arising from technological and other change; how to improve communications so as to get a better exchange of information and views both between and within labour and management Conference on Government Information Systems, 1967 (8 papers + summary of panel discussion): https://archive.org/details/conferenceongove0000conf (need be to National Library and Archives Canada member (free) to view it) The main purpose of this conference was to clarify the basic concept, problems and potential of government information systems to describe some of the systems in operation at the time.
It was to pursue this end mainly through annual conferences in which business and labour leaders, and representatives of consumer and other interests, could seek a consensus on national goals and priorities, and on recommendations for government and industry policies and programs.
Major emphasis was placed on the implications of the rapid emergence of Third World competitors and on identification of the Canadian industries, regions, and groups likely to be most affected.
This, in turn, would help the council address its responsibility to provide Canadians with pertinent and forward-looking advice on how to improve the country's economic performance.
The accelerating pace of change in the world economy and the growing interaction among different disciplines made it essential for the council to use a wider canvas than economics in selecting future research topics.
These vehicles were released as stand-alones or under different series, as follows: Examples of topics covered by the reports and reports follow: Economic consultative bodies; Managerial human resource needs; Intellectual/industrial property Social indicators Construction instability impacts of labour market programs; Euro-currency and Canadian banks; Income maintenance programs Correspondence of urban systems and economic base in regions; Industrial adjustment Innovation diffusion; Banking rates of return; Regional differences in productivity and tariff impacts frictional unemployment; language earnings disparities; population and labour force projections; Trade relations with developing countries; Taxation and SME financing; Future pension financing; intergenerational pension study; CPI; wage inflation Pollution compensation; Farm incomes Choice of governing instrument; Regulation in agriculture; Government loan guarantees Meeting skill needs (survey report) Export financing assistance Investment assistance Hydro-electricity rents Female economic status; female labour force participation Regulation and drug research and development Female re-entrants into labour force Emerging technologies; technology and the labour market Hospital costs and productivity Capital income taxation; tax reform Workplace innovation Taxation and savings Petro Canada Regulation and natural monopolies; Trade liberalization Structural change and adjustment; Human resource management Corporate mergers and acquisitions Full employment Income maintenance (Mincome experiment) Productivity Public sector Constitutional division of powers Drug expenditures Earnings of immigrants R&D and productivity growth Finally, an important aspect of the council's mandate was to disseminate the knowledge gained through its research.