The co-director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy will be a visiting economist at the department for the 2021–22 academic year, he announced on Twitter. (The Logic)

Talking point: Finance’s previous economists in residence have advised the department’s leadership on economic issues and had a hand in policy development. This move brings one of the country’s most feted experts on innovation policy’s impact on growth into a government whose innovation policy he’s frequently found wanting, at a moment when it’s proposing big spending on promising technology subsectors to help revive the economy after COVID-19. “We’re extremely reactive,” Breznitz told The Logic in April, noting that governments going back two decades have failed to adopt strategies to transform the economy for the next two. He couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, but in the earlier interview he also expressed concern about low growth in productivity and real wages. Former pension-fund and telecom CEO Michael Sabia briefly ran the Munk School before becoming deputy finance minister last December. In August, the department split one of its key policy branches, creating a standalone group to study and shape economic policy.