86% of Canadians oppose Bank of Canada digital currency

By Isaac Lamoureux

Public consultations by the Bank of Canada into the potential creation of a digital Canadian currency revealed stark opposition against the proposal.

Findings released on Wednesday indicate that 86% of respondents provided a negative response to the idea of a digital Canadian dollar. Only 5% of respondents indicated a positive response, with less than 1% agreeing that Canada needs its own digital currency.

At the forefront of Canadians’ rejection are concerns about privacy.

A significant portion of respondents championed the anonymity offered by cash, expressing deep mistrust in the Bank of Canada’s (BOC) ability to safeguard a digital currency.

Respondents to the questionnaire could leave anonymous comments at the end of the consultation.

“I am deeply concerned about privacy and freedom… I cannot imagine a CBDC [Central Bank Digital Currency] being compatible with our values of liberty and privacy,” said one respondent.

“The fear of many Canadians is to use it as an instrument of control like the Chinese social credit model. We don’t want it,” wrote another respondent in French.

Despite these concerns, the Bank has proposed a digital dollar model that wouldn’t require identification, a bank account, or to disclose private information to perform basic financial transactions, similar to bank notes and some prepaid cards, they claim. The BOC said that this system would allow Canadians to voluntarily provide some form of identification to help retrieve lost or stolen funds.