A Digital Canadian Dollar - The Future of Mark Carney's Canada

Now that 130,000 Liberals have picked Canada's next Prime Minister, a former two-time central banker, we would be wise to think about where Canada is headed under a Mark Carney government, particularly when it comes to our personal financial futures.  His coronation brought back thoughts from late 2023 when the Bank of Canada, Carney's former employer, released a survey asking Canadians about their views on a digital Canadian dollar aka a central bank digital currency.  Let's look at an excerpt from the results of the survey which found the following:

1.) Canadians place a high value on holding cash that is backed by their central bank and want to maintain access to bank notes.

2.) Canadians value their right to privacy and many expressed concerns that a digital dollar could compromise that right.

3.) A digital dollar should be easily accessible and should neither add barriers nor worsen existing ones.

4.) A digital dollar should not add to financial stability risks.

Basically, Canadians who responded to the survey were strongly against a digital Canadian dollar and strongly backed the continued existence of bank notes, responses which the bank appears to have taken to heart at least publicly, however, it did leave itself one significant loophole as quoted here with my bold:

"In an era of rapid digitalization, the Bank is undertaking the necessary work to be ready if Canadians’ payment preferences or needs change. Ultimately, the decision about whether or when to issue a digital dollar will be up to Canadians and their elected representatives in Parliament."

Here's a screen capture showing the "What's Next" section of the report on the Bank of Canada's survey for posterity's sake:

 

And, there you have it.  The ultimate decision about whether to implement a digital Canadian dollar lies in the hands of Canada's Parliament which is now led by a former central banker and strong advocate of central bank digital currencies.  The stumbling block to Canada's CBDC has now been removed and I don't think that Mark Carney cares one whit about what Canadians think about a cashless society.

The only question now is how long will it be before Canada adopts a central bank digital currency?  Canada's only hope is that a Carney-led Liberal party is either defeated in the next election or remains in minority status as long as the other parties are anti-digital Canadian dollar.

The Bank of Canada - Canada's Retail CBDC Future

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear to the world that Canada was at the leading edge of the globalist agenda for the world as the nation's response, particularly to the February 2022 Truckers' Protest, was among the most freedom crushing in the world, thanks largely to the Trudeau government's lockdown of Canadians' bank accounts.  Research that recently appeared on the Bank of Canada's website suggests that the nation's move toward a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is more or less a certainty, a development that should cause concern among Canadians that still embrace freedom.

 

The research paper entitled "The Role of Public Money in the Digital Age" by Bank of Canada researchers Francisco Rivadeneyra, Scott Hendry and Alejandro García:

...poses the argument that the increasing use of digital payments and the rise in cryptocurrencies accompanied by the decreasing use of cash is the perfect reason why Canada's central bank will need to impose a CBDC.  While the Bank of Canada claims that this paper does not express its own views, I would respectfully suggest that it is highly unlikely that a research paper that expresses a strong negative viewpoint of central bank digital currencies would appear on the Bank's website.  It might also be important to note that this is the 24th research paper on CBDCs to appear on the Bank's website. 

  

Let's look at two definitions to help put this development into perspective.  There are two main types of CBDCs with specific purposes:

 

1.) Wholesale CBDCs - these would be developed and rolled out to exclusively serve financial institutions to facilitate large-value and interbank settlement and liquidity management. 

 

2.) Retail CBDCs - these would be developed and rolled out to serve the general public.

 

What is particularly concerning about this recent paper is that the authors of the report propose that a retail CBDC will need to be implemented, a step well beyond many central banks that are currently focussing on entering the digital currency ecosystem through the use of wholesale CBDCs.

 

The authors claim that the Canadian monetary system functions relatively well today due to the following factors:

 

1.) having the Canadian dollar as the unit of account

2.) limited use of alternative units of account

3.) an efficient settlement of payments

4.) an exchange of different forms of money at par (cash and bank deposits)

5.) a relatively stable rate of inflation

The authors claim that over the long term, there are three interrelated and overlapping trends that pose risks to the monetary system:

 

1.) the overall digitalization of the economy and financial system is increasing demand for digital payments.

 

2.) due to the first trend and other conditions, use of cash has been declining at the point of sale for many years. 

 

3.) the emergence and proliferation of private cryptocurrencies and digital assets, including foreign CBDCs. 

These trends pose risks to the monetary system through three mechanisms:

1.) increased potential that fragmentation of the monetary system could create inefficiencies

2.) increased ability of issuers of private forms of money to exert market power

3.) increased difficulty implementing timely and adequate regulation due to the rapid pace of change

 

They claim that these risks could lead to a loss of the uniformity of money, adoption of alternative units of account and the ever present threat that some segments of the population could be excluded from the monetary system (as though central bankers ever cared about the unwashed serf class).

 

Since the authors claim that cash is likely to continue to decline in relevance to the point where it many no longer be viable as a method of payment, the Bank of Canada could step in with a retail CBDC to help fill the gap and maintain the relevance of public money in the economy by fulfilling the role of cash. (i.e. being equivalent to cash).

 

The authors state that because bank customers demand and expect that cash will be available when they request it, financial institutions make cash available through ABMs or in their branches.  That said, Canada's Bank Act does not have regulations that require banks to make good on their demand deposits in cash (for example just try going to your bank and withdrawing several thousand dollars should you happen to have that much in your bank account).  Banks only supply cash because their customers demand it.  The authors postulate that it is possible that a bank could choose not to make cash available to its customers which would mean that the customers of that bank could choose to move their deposits to institutions that still offer cash which could result in a risk to the solvency of the non-cash offering bank.  This situation could become even worse if banks colluded on a strategy to all become cashless at which point customers would have little option, a scenario that is not out of the realm of possibility given that Canadian banks are not required by law to redeem deposits in cash as I noted above.  Should a scenario like this take place, banks could avail themselves of the opportunity to massively increase user fees for those who have the temerity to demand cash as well as those who use digital forms of payments (i.e. credit and debit card transactions).

 

Not only are the authors concerned about the disappearance of cash and the decline in its use, they are concerned about the growing use of crypto assets and stablecoins which are currently widely considered to be investment vehicles rather than a useful means of payment.  With Big Tech companies considering the process of creating money, there is a greater chance that the monetary system could become increasingly fragmented.

 

As a solution to this "monetary nightmare" envisaged by the Bank of Canada, the actors suggest that the issuance of a CBDC to complement the role played in public money by cash would be the best alternative.  Here's a quote from the conclusion of the paper with my bold:

 

"In a future where cash is less relevant and is no longer a competitive payment alternative to private money, issues could arise in the uniformity of the Canadian dollar in its many different forms or with the exertion of excessive market power by private money providers.  Similar thinking about the role of public money in the monetary system is also emerging in other advanced economies.

Given this role of retail public money, it is likely that a digital form of cash, a CBDC, will be needed in order to maintain the status quo. Cash and a CBDC could continue to support:

1.) the Canadian dollar unit of account

2.) the uniformity of money

3.) monetary and regulatory sovereignty

4.) the overall confidence in the stability of the financial and monetary systems

A retail CBDC with qualities like those of cash would be able to work with other components of the monetary framework (e.g., financial regulation, deposit insurance) to support a well-functioning monetary system."

 

By implementing a CBDC, the Bank of Canada could still retain its alleged control over the Canadian economy through the use of its ability to impose monetary policies with the aim of economic stability.  Should Canada's private banking sector choose to abandon cash, under a CBDC ecosystem, Canadians could still withdraw their money from digital services by converting it into the Bank of Canada’s digital loonies. They could also exit the private banking system entirely by moving money from their bank accounts into a CBDC "chequing account", just as they can do so now by withdrawing their money in cash.

 

As I have noted in the past, the spectre of CBDCs should be a cause of great concern for those who want to maintain what little remains of their privacy and their freedom.  Given that some central bankers have said the quiet part out loud and announced the potential use of programmable CBDCs to control the spending of individuals and the accompanying fact that the Trudeau government used its powers to lock Canadians out of their bank accounts for supporting an anti-government viewpoint, we should all be very apprehensive that the Bank of Canada's proposal for a retail central bank digital currency is even being considered given that central bankers around the world are not known for their abilities as original thinkers.  Nor do they have any interest in our freedom.

The Bank of Canada - How Canadians Feel about a Canadian Dollar CBDC

There is little doubt that the world is heading towards a central bank digital currency-dominated future, thanks to the efforts of organizations like the Bank for International Settlements, the World Economic Forum and like-minded organizations.  While the implementation of CBDCs may be unavoidable, one of the world's central banks, the Bank of Canada, undertook a survey of Canadians to understand their views on the development and rollout of CBDCs.  The results of the public consultation portion of this survey were just released and are rather eye-opening:

 

 

Let's look at some of the highlights.

 

A total of 89,432 responses were collected during the public consultation which took place from May 8 to June 19, 2023 which the Bank of Canada considers a "high level of engagement".  The survey was divided into five main sections:

 

1.) How you pay for things today 

 

2.) Design concepts and principles

 

3.) Design features and use cases

 

4.) Your advice

 

5.) About you

 

The individuals that took the time to complete the 30 question survey exhibited a high level of familiarity with the concept of a digital Canadian dollar with 87 percent having heard about a Bank of Canada CBDC.  Here is a map showing how respondents represented the vast geography of Canada:

 

Here is a graphic showing the payment types used by respondents in the last month before they completed the survey:

 

 

Here are the reasons for using these payment methods noting that cash was often used for "privacy", "safety" and "anonymity":

 

When asked about the importance of a universally accessible digital Canadian dollar, respondents answered as follows:

 

 

Note that nearly half of respondents felt that accessibility was very unimportant compared to only 29 percent who felt that it was very important.

  

When it comes to the design features of a digital Canadian currency, here are respondents' recommendations:

In Canadians' opinion, the most important feature is privacy (13 percent) followed by protection against government abuse or control (8 percent).

  

When asked if they would be interested in having a payment method in addition to cash that would work offline when the internet is not functioning or there is a power, outage, two-thirds of Canadians said that they were uninterested in such a feature:

 

When asked how often they would use digital Canadian dollars offline, here's what Canadians said:

 

Now let's get to the most important aspect of a central bank/government-controlled digital currency, the issue of privacy and trust in the Bank of Canada to issue a digital currency that is secure from fraud, cyberattack or theft:

 

 

The top privacy features of a Canadian digital dollar that would be expected are as follows:

 

 

Lastly, here's how much Canadians trust their own financial institutions, the Bank of Canada, the Government of Canada and Big Tech:

 

It is quite clear that Canadians have very little trust in their nation's financial system, particularly  the Bank of Canada, the Government of Canada and Big Tech, when it coms to protecting their personal information and spending habits.

  

Let's close with this graphic which shows the percentage of respondents that would use a digital Canadian dollar:

 

 

...and the percentage of Canadians who would use a digital Canadian dollar rather than their current form of payment:

 

 

To summarize, 86 percent of respondents responded negatively when commenting on the idea of a digital Canadian dollar with only 5 percent responding positively.  One commenter even noted the Trudeau government's attempts to freeze the bank accounts of Canadians who disagreed with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic during the Truckers' Protest of February 2022.

 

Let's close with a couple of comments from the Bank of Canada's summary of their own survey:

 

"Overall, the public consultation gathered a diversity of attitudes and concerns from Canadians regarding a digital Canadian dollar, underlining significant reservations related to privacy and security and a strong preference for existing payment methods....

 

Ultimately, it will be up to Parliament and the Government of Canada to determine if or when to issue a digital Canadian dollar."

 

Personally, I think that that the implementation of CBDCs in Canada is a done deal no matter what Canadian voters want but that's just my opinion.  All that it will take is some type of financial catastrophe to push the Bank of Canada and the Government of Canada to force CBDCs on Canadians or the perceived need to remain competitive with the central banks of other nations who implement their own central bank digital currencies.

The Bank of Canada and its Digital Dollar Ecosystem

With 120 nations taking part in one of the greatest monetary experiments of all time as shown here:

 

...a recent announcement from the central bank of one of the world's most globalist-centric nations is not surprising.

 

Here is the announcement from the Bank of Canada:

 

 

Here are some interesting excerpts from the press release with my bolds:

  

"The way Canadians pay for everything from the daily necessities to major purchases is evolving rapidly. As the world becomes increasingly digital, the Bank—like many other central banks—is exploring a digital version of Canada’s national currency.

 

“As Canada’s central bank, we want to make sure everyone can always take part in our country’s economy. That means being ready for whatever the future holds,” said Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers.

 

At this time, a digital Canadian dollar is not needed. And any decision to issue one rests with Parliament and the Government of Canada."

  

That said, Canadians can assure themselves that as long as this person is pulling the strings in Parliament....

 

...a Canadian version of a CBCD is guaranteed.

  

The Bank of Canada is looking for input regarding a digital dollar on issues including:

 

1.) how people would likely use it

 

2.) what security features are important

 

3.) what concerns you have about accessibility and privacy

  

Here is a key excerpt:

 

"The Bank has been providing bank notes to Canadians for more than 85 years. Cash is a safe, accessible and trusted method of payment that anyone can use, including people who don’t have a bank account, a credit score or official identification documents.

 

If a digital Canadian dollar is issued in the future, the Bank will continue to provide bank notes for those who want them. Cash isn’t going anywhere.

 

However, there may come a time when bank notes are not widely used in day-to-day transactions, which could risk excluding many Canadians from taking part in the economy."

  

Again and again we hear from central bankers that, if a digital currency ecosystem is implemented, cash will still be part of the economy.  And if you believe that....

 

So, why would the Bank of Canada bother to issue a CBDC?  Here's the reason:

 

"It’s also possible that private cryptocurrencies or central bank digital currencies issued by other countries could become widely used in Canada in the future. This could compromise the role of an official, centrally issued currency—the Canadian dollar—in our economy and pose a risk to the stability of our financial system.

 

A digital Canadian dollar would ensure Canadians always have an official, safe, and stable digital payment option issued by Canada’s central bank."

The online public consultation period runs from May 8th to June 19th, 2023.  The Bank will publish the findings of the consultations later this year.  

One might almost think that the Bank of Canada really cares what Canadians think about this sea-change in Canada's monetary ecosystem.  Unfortunately, with Chrystia Freeland clearly signalling that the Trudeau government is quite comfortable locking people out of their own savings during the Trucker's Protest in early 2022, it is quite clear that the ultimate goal of a digital Canadian dollar is to further control Canadians' behaviours.

What Stephen Harper Said

During the 2011 election, the Liberals kindly posted a rather substantial document that had a collection of things that Stephen Harper said before he became an MP, while he was an MP and while he was with the National Citizens' Coalition  If there is one thing that our PM is known for, it's his dogged pursuit of his beliefs and his unflagging feeling that he knows what is best for us and Canada.

From the documents, I've selected a few of the gems as outlined below.

Here are several regarding Mr. Harper's stand on Canada's health care system and how he would provide a multi-tiered system.  Note the date at the top of the quotation, followed by the quote and its context and the source of the quote:

Here's what Mr. Harper had to say about the bill that proposed gun registry.  Note that he supported "...some of the philosophy (sic) behind the gun bill" at the time:

Here's what Mr. Harper thought about MPs voting in accordance with the wishes of their constituents rather than along Party lines.  Apparently, his need to control his MPs is a recent change in his approach to Parliament:

Mr. Harper is at the very least consistent in his view of corporate tax cuts despite the fact that the relationship between lower corporate taxes and increased employment is far from conclusive:

This sort of information is long overdue.  We've been reminded for the past several months of things that Mr. Ignatieff said over the past decade about his relationship with Canada, the possibility of his return to Harvard and his yearning for higher taxes among other things on those annoying Conservative Party television commercials.  What has been lacking is balance; the Liberals under Mr. Ignatieff seem to want to fight a "gentleman's battle", fighting with polite bantering rather than the verbal nuclear weapons that they needed to use months ago.

What has been surprising is the lack of balance in Canada's media throughout the electoral process.  As I've demonstrated, some of the things that Mr. Harper has said in the past are, to say the least, rather shocking, but the mainstream media seems to quickly lose focus on his past stance on issues leaving Mr. Harper stand as the teflon Prime Minister.  As voters, it is up to us to hold all of the leaders of the major political parties responsible for what they have said in the past as it is representative of their true character, especially when they were said without the benefit of either talking points or the aid of political handlers.  We need to know what their real stand on issues is before we pick up that stubby pencil and mark an "X" beside the name of someone whose leader's stance on issues varies with the direction of the wind.

Spend your dormant bank account money before the government does it for you

One news item that got brief coverage in the mainstream media was the recently announced plan by the British government to use dormant savings accounts to help fund community projects. As it stands, there is an estimated £935 million sitting in dormant U.K. based bank and national savings and investment accounts. The U.K. government is establishing a "Big Society Bank" which will finance charitable groups and other non-profit companies who will take over certain social programs in the country basically in a thinly veiled attempt to offload expenditures from the government. All this is part of the move that the U.K. government is forced to make to narrow its record budget deficit of £143 billion and debt of £924 billion. As it stands, there is an estimated £935 million sitting in dormant U.K. based bank and national savings and investment accounts. Part of this move stems from a law passed in 2008 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown's watch that allowed the government to use money from dormant bank and building-society accounts for "social or environmental purposes." Only accounts where there has been no customer activity (i.e. no contact with the financial institution and no transactions on the account) in the 15-year time period are ripe for raiding. Fortunately for consumers, even if the government reclaims your cash, the Dormant Bank and Building Society Act allows account owners to claim it back. I guess if you put enough lipstick on a pig by touting the use of the money for "social or environmental purposes", eventually, people will stop thinking it is a pig and instead, see a beautiful woman who's trying to steal what might be yours.

Once a government somewhere tries the tactic of raiding dormant bank accounts to fund their activities that should be funded by our tax "donations", other governments around the world are likely to duplicate the idea since none of those governing us are particularly well known for being original thinkers. In light of this, I'd like to help both Canadian and American readers find the money that they or their family members may have forgotten about.


Should you happen to live in the United Kingdom, here is a link that will help you track down your dormant accounts.  The service is provided by the British Bankers Association, the Building Societies Association and the National Savings and Investments.  The service is apparently free; all that's required of you is to supply your name, address and telephone number.

1.) Unclaimed Bank Accounts - United States

If you live in the United States, the process is somewhat complicated by the fact that each state has its own laws governing the recovery and claiming of unclaimed assets which can include bank accounts, bonds, mutual funds, life insurance policies, utility deposits. There is no central federal repository for unclaimed funds. While each state maintains a database, there is no national unclaimed property database. In the case of bank accounts, they are normally considered dormant if there have been no transactions for between two and five years. Attempts to contact account holders are generally made after two and five years, if unsuccessful, the funds in the accounts are turned over to state governments.

Here's are a few state links that may help you if you're looking for unclaimed funds. Just click on the state name and you should be taken right to the website that you're looking for.

New York

California

Michigan

Illinois

Washington

Florida

Texas

Louisiana

Just to give you some idea of the number of bank accounts and amount of money involved, the State of California is currently in possession of more than $5.7 billion in unclaimed property belonging to approximately 11.6 million individuals and organizations.

For those readers whose states are not listed above, I would suggest that you type your state name followed by the words unclaimed property (i.e. Texas unclaimed property) into Google and I suspect you'll get the result that you are looking for near the top of the search results list. I also notice that there are many privately owned companies that will help you search for your unclaimed bank accounts, however, I would suggest that you try this route first because it doesn't cost you anything.

As an aside, I have to say that I really like the creativity that the American states use when naming their unclaimed property websites. Florida Treasure Hunt and Illinois Cash and Dash were my two favourites.

2.) Unclaimed Bank Accounts - Canada

Bank accounts are considered dormant in Canada when there has been no activity for 10 years and when the bank has been unsuccessful at contacting the owner of the funds. These funds are then maintained by the Bank of Canada. At the end of December 2009, the Bank of Canada was holding 1,122,000 unclaimed accounts worth $395 million. Over 93.4% of the accounts had balances of less than $1,000 representing 30.82% of the total funds under the Bank's care. The oldest balance dates back to the year 1900. Interestingly enough, the Bank of Canada maintains balances of $1000 or more for 100 years and balances under $1000 for 40 years. In the case of a balance under $1000, a written claim must be received by the Bank of Canada no later than December 31st of an account's last transaction plus 40 years (i.e. 10 years of dormancy in the bank's hands and 30 years in the hands of the Bank of Canada). In case you were wondering, the Unclaimed Balances Service also looks after unclaimed GICs, term deposits, bank drafts and credit card balances but only those issued by federally-regulated financial institutions.

Fortunately, in Canada the process of reclaiming your dormant bank accounts is very easy. Simply go to the Bank of Canada Unclaimed Balances webpage located here. In case the link doesn't work for you, it can be found if you type "dormant bank accounts Canada" into Google and it should be the first result. All you have to do is type in your name and optionally, the province you live or lived in and hit the search button. Not only did I search my own name, I searched the names of every relative, living and dead, that I could think of to see if they may have had any dormant bank accounts. There are far worse things in this world than calling up one of your cousins to tell them that they have a dormant bank account that has a few hundred dollars in it. Once you have identified that you have an unclaimed balance, you will need to fill out a claim form and return it along with additional required information and return it to the Bank of Canada. Again, fortunately in Canada, there are no fees charged for searching the Bank's records and for recovering your unclaimed balances! Please also keep in mind that you may be heir to the estate of an owner of an unclaimed bank account so search accordingly. Here are the procedures that must be followed to make a claim in any case.

When you search the database, here's an example of a result that you will get if you search the name "Johnson". As a bonus, if you happen to be related to this person who banked at the Royal Bank in St. John New Brunswick in the 1980's, there's $11,496.19 waiting for you.

Should you happen to do your banking at a credit union or caisses populaires, dormant accounts are not transferred to the Bank of Canada. If you bank (or have banked) in British Columbia, Quebec or Nova Scotia simply click on the name of the province and you will be automatically taken to their publicly-searchable database. If you live elsewhere, you will have to attempt to contact either the branch where the account was held or the provincial credit union head office.

Good luck and I hope that you hit the jackpot before the government decides to that they deserve your money more than you do! Don't forget that pig with lipstick!

References:

Bank of Canada Unclaimed Balances Website