Recent moves by central banks in Canada, the United States and abroad to improve liquidity in financial markets have been crucial in boosting confidence, and there’s potential for more action yet to come, Conference Board of Canada’s chief economist Glen Hodgson said Wednesday.

In particular, although the US$700-billion bailout package in the United States has been wildly unpopular, it was “critically necessary,” Hodgson said in a keynote speech at the Conference Board’s 2008 Business Outlook Briefing in Toronto.

He added that the Canadian government’s recent move to buy $25 billion in CMHC-insured mortgages from banks was “the right thing to do.” He explained that the government’s willingness to finance the mortgages helped to indicate their high quality, and gave cash to the banks at a critical time.

But this action by the federal government, Hodgson noted, was part of “remarkably little” intervention that’s taken place on this side of the border — something he said reflects the stability of the Canadian financial system.

“Our system has been remarkably stable and secure compared to everybody else in the world,” he said. He added that Canada will not escape exposure to the global economic downturn, and that growth will likely be slow in 2009 and 2010 but he said the country is in relatively good shape.

“We could well lead the G7 simply because our core institutions are so much stronger than others around the world.”

While others have criticized the U.S. government for being too slow to intervene in the ailing financial sector, Hodgson argued the policymakers have in fact taken significant policy action in a relatively short span of time.

“We’ve actually come a long way very quickly,” he said, comparing the recent events to such other crises as the Great Depression and the Latin American debt crisis. In particular, he pointed to the extreme measures the U.S. government has taken recently despite the free-market ideology that underlies the Bush administration.

Though Hodgson admitted worldwide central bank actions to address the financial crisis have so far been fairly extensive, he said more can be done. “There’s actually additional cards that can be played,” he said.

Specifically, he said the core problems on Main Street that fueled the entire crisis have largely been ignored in the actions the U.S. government has taken so far. He suggested providing low-cost refinancing of mortgages to give homeowners incentive to keep their homes rather than walking away.

As well, central banks could inject more liquidity into the system by purchasing more assets from the banks. Hodgson also suggested more nationalization and equity injections, further interest rate cuts, and fiscal stimulus.

“If required, we could actually start doing things through fiscal policy,” he said.

IE