Princeton Lecture Series
Join the 2026 Princeton Developments Ltd Distinguished Lecture in Finance with Dr. Lawrence L. Schembri, Senior Fellow and Peter M. Brown Chair of Canadian Competitiveness at the Fraser Institute, for a lecture on Indigenous Participation in Major Projects, Access to Finance and the Alberta Experience
Major natural resource, electricity and transportation projects are critical for the future prosperity of all Canadians, especially as we strive to increase business investment and diversify our international trade. Such projects often, if not always, take place on the traditional territories of Indigenous communities.
Partnerships with Indigenous communities through shared equity ownership and fiscal jurisdiction generate mutually beneficial returns, information sharing and risk management. In addition, they help to ensure the environmental sustainability of these projects and to preserve the land for future generations. The lack of access to finance has been a major obstacle to Indigenous economic inclusion and development. Alberta’s experience offers useful lessons about overcoming this and other obstacles to achieving successful partnerships with Indigenous communities. Restoring Indigenous prosperity supports Indigenous self-determination and promotes economic reconciliation.
Event Details
Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2026
Time: 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Location: Fairmont Hotel MacDonald, Edmonton
10065 100 St NW, Edmonton, AB, T5J 0N6
For any questions or inquiries, please email princeton.lectures@ualberta.ca
Dr. Lawrence L. Schembri, Senior Fellow and Peter M. Brown Chair of Canadian
Competitiveness at the Fraser Institute.
He served as the Deputy Governor of the Bank of
Canada from 2013 until his retirement in June 2022. As a member of the Bank’s Governing
Council, he shared responsibility for decisions related to monetary policy and financial system stability and for setting the Bank’s strategic direction.
In 2001, he was appointed senior research director in the International Department at the Bank of Canada and became its managing director in 2005. In 2010, he was appointed advisor to the governor. While at the Bank, Mr. Schembri was an active researcher, publishing research on exchange rate and monetary policy in open economies, the international monetary system, and financial stability.
As a champion of efforts to promote economic literacy and Indigenous economic opportunity, he sponsored the Bank’s Governor’s Challenge undergraduate-student competition and was a founding member of the Central Bank Network for Indigenous Inclusion. At the Fraser Institute, he has completed studies on central bank policy, the Indigenous economy in Canada, and economic growth and living standards in Canada. His commentaries on Indigenous and central bank issues have appeared in major Canadian newspapers and media outlets.
He currently serves on the boards of the Tulo Centre of Indigenous Economics, the Homalco First Nation Business Group and the Yanonhchia Indigenous Housing Finance Network.
Mr. Schembri received a B.Com. from the University of Toronto, an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT. Prior to joining the Bank of Canada, Mr. Schembri was a professor of economics at Carleton University.
He was born and raised in Toronto, where he currently lives, has two adult daughters, and is a life-long Toronto Blue Jays fan.
Order of events:
3:30 p.m. — Light refreshment and registration
4:00 p.m. — Lecture by Dr. Lawrence L. Schembri
4:30 p.m. — Audience Q&A
5:00 p.m. — Program ends
Princeton played an active role in the development of western and northern Canada. This contribution is another testament of its commitment to support the University of Alberta, its students, alumni and the business community.
Past Princeton Lecture Speakers
2024 Princeton Developments Ltd Distinguished Lecture in Finance with Marcel Boyer, Emeritus Professor of Economics Université de Montréal and CIRANO Researcher and Fellow.
The speech will be about Social Democracy, Capitalism, and Competition: Issues for Finance.
In his new book “Social Democracy, Capitalism, and Competition” Marcel Boyer uses his novel competition-based social democracy and new competition-based capitalism models to envision how public and social goods and services - such as education, healthcare, and transport infrastructure - can be provided in a way that aligns with citizens’ best interests. In his presentation, Marcel Boyer will present his main ideas on improving the delivery of public goods and services with a particular emphasis on finance-related issues. This presentation will be of great interest to members of the finance industry and the public sector as well as academics and students in the social sciences in particular finance and economics.
Event Details
Date: Thursday, February 15, 2024
Time: 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Location: JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District, Wayne Gretzky Ballroom
Please RSVP for this event by contacting fsa@ualberta.ca by February 6, 2024!
Marcel Boyer, CIRANO Researcher and Fellow
Marcel Boyer is presently Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Université de Montréal, where he held the Jarislowsky-SSHRC-NSERC Chair in Technology and International Competition and the Bell Canada Chair in Industrial Economics; Associate Member of the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE); Fellow of CIRANO and of the C.D. Howe Institute (Toronto, Member of the Competition Policy Council ); Member of the Governance Committee of the “Sustainable Finance and Responsible Investment” Chairs of AFG (Paris).
Marcel Boyer is Officer of the Order of Canada (2015), Laureate of the Léon-Gérin Prize for career excellence in Humanities and Social Sciences (Prix du Québec 2015), Honorary Fellow of the French Association of Environmental and Resources Economists (FAERE 2014), Honorary Fellow of the Canadian Economics Association (2013), Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada 1992), and Endowment-for-the-future Distinguished Scholar Award (University of Alberta 1988).
He was President of the international Society for Economic Research on Copyright Issues (SERCI); President of the Canadian Economics Association; CEO of CIRANO; Member of the Board of Directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER, USA); Member of the Board of the Montreal Mathematical Finance Institute.
Professor Boyer currently conducts research in the areas of investment valuation (risk, flexibility, and real options); efficient organizations and public policies (water markets; competitive social democracy); inequalities; value and cost-sharing; and law and economics (cartels, anti-competitive practices, environmental liability and other issues, intellectual property rights).
Order of events:
3:30 pm — Light refreshment and registration
4:00 pm — Lecture by Marcel Boyer
4:30 pm — Audience Q&A
5:00 pm — Program ends
Princeton played an active role in the development of western and northern Canada. This contribution is another testament of its commitment to support the University of Alberta, its students, alumni and the business community.
PAUL BEAUDRY, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada
Mr Beaudry has been Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada since 2019.
Born in Montréal, Quebec, Mr. Beaudry holds a BA in Economics from Laval University, an MA in Economics from the University of British Columbia, and a PhD in Economics from Princeton University.
At the time of his appointment to the Bank of Canada, Mr. Beaudry was Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver School of Economics. Mr. Beaudry began his career as assistant professor at the Université de Montréal in 1989. During 2009 and 2010, Mr. Beaudry held the Chair in Economics at All Souls College, Oxford University.
Mr. Beaudry is a two-time former laureate of the Bank of Canada’s Research Fellowship Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Event Details
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2023
Time: 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Location: Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, Empire Ballroom
Order of events:
3:30 pm — Light refreshment and registration
4:00 pm — Lecture by Deputy Governor Beaudry
4:30 pm — Audience Q&A
5:00 pm — Program ends
Princeton played an active role in the development of western and northern Canada. This contribution is another testament of its commitment to support the University of Alberta, its students, alumni and the business community.