The Fields Directorate and Centre for Financial Industries is convening a roundtable to explore collaborative modelling initiatives aimed at informing Canada's policy response to the economic fallout of the global trade war. With rising protectionism and intensifying tariff regimes, Canadian policymakers face urgent questions about economic resilience, trade diversification, sectoral exposure, and long-term competitiveness.

This roundtable will gather a cross-disciplinary group of economists, mathematical and computational modellers, trade experts, statisticians, and public policy leaders. Participants will examine a range of scenario-driven outcomes—from temporary trade disruptions and resource bottlenecks to structural realignments in global economic partnerships.

The workshop will serve as the first step towards co-authoring a whitepaper that outlines strategic risks, modelling priorities, and policy-ready insights. The goal is to chart a forward- looking, evidence-based framework for informing policy, economic resilience and trade adaptation in an era of geopolitical uncertainty.

We envision that this roundtable will shape an evolving conversation on how best to leverage Canada’s research capacity to deliver robust, data-informed policy solutions at a time of heightened volatility.

Featured Speakers & Panelists: 

Dr. Brett House - Professor, Columbia Business School, Senior Fellow, UofT Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Former Deputy Chief Economist, Scotiabank

Dr. James Partridge - Head, Risk development and implementation, Moodys. North America & Europe

Mr. Julian Karaguesian - Economic Advisor, McGill, Ministry of Finance, OECD

Dr. Jordan Brennan - Head, Thought Leadership, Royal Bank of Canada

Dr. Ross Griffiths - Vice President, Non-retail Model Development, TD Bank

Dr. Ben Tomlin - Senior Research Director, Bank of Canada

Facilitators: 

Dr. Walid Mnif - Senior Leader in Quantitative Advanced Analytics & AI/ML

Dr. Adam Metzler - Director, Centre for Financial Industries, Associate Professor, Mathematics, Wilfrid Laurier University, Senior Researcher at Canada’s Financial Wellness Lab

Please note that there is a limited capacity and early registration is advised.