About our Authors

Scott Clark

Mr. Clark is currently President of C. S. Clark Consulting. Prior to that Mr. Clark held a number of senior positions in the Canadian Government dealing with both domestic and international policy issues. In regard to domestic policy issues, Mr. Clark served in a number of Assistant Deputy minister positions in the Department of Finance. He also served as Associate Deputy Minister of Finance (1994-1997), Deputy Minister of Finance (1998-2001), and Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister (2001).  On the international side, Mr. Clark was Canada’s Executive Director to the International Monetary Fund (1989-1992), Canada’s G-7 Deputy (1992-1994), and Canada’s Executive Director to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (2001-2006). As Deputy Minister of Finance Mr. Clark served as an ex-officio member on the Board of directors of the Bank of Canada and Export Development Canada. Mr. Clark was adviser to the Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund (2007-2009). He was visiting Fellow at the School of Public Policy, Queens University (2000-2001) and Director of the Queens Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy (2007). Mr. Clark lectured at the University of Western Ontario (1969-1976), and has guest lectured at the University of China, Hong Kong (2004), and provided advice to the Government of Viet Nam (2005). Mr. Clark has an honors BA in Economics and mathematics from Queen’s University (1966) and a PhD in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley (1971).

Peter DeVries

Mr. DeVries is currently a consultant in fiscal policy and public management issues, primarily on an international basis. From 1984 to 2005, he held a number of senior positions in the Department of Finance. From 1990 to 2005, he was Director Fiscal Policy Division Department of Finance, responsible for overall preparation of the federal budget; preparation and assessment of medium- and long-term projections of federal revenues and expenses and implications for fiscal policy; analysis of fiscal conditions at both the federal and provincial levels; evaluation of various budget proposals; preparation of monthly Fiscal Monitor; with the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG), assessing and evaluating accounting standards proposed by the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) of the CICA and recommending changes in government accounting policies; with the OCG, responsible for implementation of accrual accounting for the federal budget and the government’s financial statements. From 1984 to 1990, he was Assistant Director Fiscal Policy Division. From1978-1984, he was Chief Consumer Prices Section Statistics Canada, responsible for preparation of the monthly Consumer Price Index. From1976-1978, he was Chief Economist and Special Advisor to Assistant Deputy Minister Canada Employment and Insurance Commission, responsible for preparation of labour market forecasts; assessment of current economic developments. From1971-1976, he was economist with the Labour Division at Statistics Canada, responsible for preparation of labour income statistics. He has been a member on various PSAB’s task forces, examining government accounting issues and from 2002-2005, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Public Sector Accounting Board. Mr. DeVries holds a MA in economics from McMaster University.