The Bank of Canada is wading into the fraught and controversial world of digital currencies, launching public consultations this week into how Canadians might use a digital dollar.
“We’ve been researching a digital dollar for quite a while now,” said Carolyn Rogers, the senior deputy governor of the central bank. “And we’re at a point where we need help from Canadians, we need to understand what Canadians want.”
And yet, the bank maintains there is neither a need nor plan to launch a digital loonie.
So, why bother with the public consultations at all?
Rogers says more transactions are being done digitally. Only about 20 per cent of retail transactions are done in cash. And, she says, there’s been a surge in interest in various digital currencies.
When most people think of a digital dollar, they first think of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or Ethereum. What the bank is looking at is not quite crypto, but it’s not quite what we generally think of as cash either.
“The bottom line is a digital dollar [that’s] backed by the Bank of Canada,” Rogers told CBC News.
Does Canada really need a digital loonie?
The Bank of Canada launched public consultations this week asking Canadians what they think of a central bank digital currency. The central bank’s senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers sat down with the CBC’s Peter Armstrong to talk about what a digital dollar would actually look like.
Such so-called central bank digital currencies have gained traction around the world. Dozens of central banks are researching or launching public consultations.
In a statement when its public consultations began, the Bank of Canada reiterated that any decision to create a digital currency would be made by politicians not central bankers.
“At this time, a digital Canadian dollar is not needed. And any decision to issue one rests with Parliament and the Government of Canada,” wrote the bank in a statement.
But if Parliament decided it wants a digital currency, the bank would be responsible for issuing one. Rogers says, in that case, policy makers should make sure a safe and reliable currency is made available.
The Bank of Canada says any decision to create a digital currency would be made by politicians, not central bankers. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
“If Canadians wanted a digital form of currency, and they didn’t have one available from the Bank of Canada, they might start to use some of those private currencies,” like bitcoin. Those currencies sometimes face wild fluctuations, among other complications.
“So we want to make sure that they have an alternative that is as secure as the cash in their wallet. But digital,” Rogers told CBC News.
But the announcement is being met with a certain level of skepticism.
Some critics say central bank digital currencies are a way for big government to have yet more control over the financial lives of citizens. Others say they simply don’t see a need for a digital currency.
“It seems like this is a solution looking in vain for a problem to solve,” said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at the financial payments company Corpay.
His company’s entire business model revolves around finding ways for businesses to pay for purchases in as quick and efficient a manner as possible. And yet, Schamotta doesn’t see a role for a digital loonie.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has railed against the idea of a central bank-backed digital currency. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
“In Canada we already have near-instant payments between people within the country. We have a very, very small unbanked population. What benefits would central bank digital currencies offer in terms of reducing payment system frictions?” he asks.
The entire idea has become something of a touchstone for conservative politicians who say they’re worried about government overreach.
Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has spoken in favour of cryptocurrencies as a way to “opt-out of inflation.”
But he got a roaring ovation when he railed against the very idea of a central bank-backed digital currency at a recent rally in Woodstock, Ont.
“As long as I am prime minister, there will be no digital ID forced on people, no central bank digital currency,” said Poilievre to huge cheers.
In Florida this week, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis announced legislation that would ban the use of any central bank digital currency as money, saying efforts in that direction by the White House are “about surveillance and control.”
“Today’s announcement will protect Florida consumers and businesses from the reckless adoption of a ‘centralized digital dollar’ which will stifle innovation and promote government-sanctioned surveillance,” DeSantis said in a statement.
The Bank of Canada says it’s simply trying to make sure the financial system works in a way that helps Canadians. Rogers says if some future government eventually decided to push ahead with the idea, it’s not like cash would suddenly disappear.
“It’s an alternative to the cash in my wallet,” said Rogers. “I can still have the cash in my wallet, we have no plan to get rid of cash. So this isn’t an exercise in replacing anything.”
But in terms of making financial transactions easier or less costly, Schamotta says the central bank is looking in the wrong direction. He says domestic payments, for the most part, work fine.
If there is a problem, he says, it lies with international payments.
He gives the example of someone in Canada trying to send money home to, say, the Philippines.
Each transaction “goes through a whole lot of hoops and steps and intermediaries, as it moves,” he said.
He says those costs add up and make a material dent in global GDP.
“The share of money being subtracted through the banking system as it moves across borders is horrible and the poorest people in the world pay a huge burden for doing this.”
Schamotta says he wishes more policy makers were looking at ways of reducing friction in those kinds of payments instead of seeking out a role for a digital loonie at home.
The Bank of Canada’s public consultation on a digital currency opened this week. It runs until June 19.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
