What could possibly go wrong?
The Rogers outage has revealed many things about Canada.
Our highly-centralized and anti-competitive business landscape has once again shown itself to be a huge risk to our country.
Some Canadians seem to view ruthless market competition as dangerous, when the real danger is the absence of such competition, because it incentivizes mediocrity and low performance.
A single-point-of-failure for a huge swath of our internet and phone services has unsurprisingly turned out to be a terrible idea.
And while some on the left have tried to claim that this is a problem with ‘capitalism,’ the real issues is a lack of capitalism. The government tilts the playing field so strongly against competition that established businesses have a huge advantage over potential upstarts.
However, with all of that in mind, there is something else we need to consider:
The danger of a Central Bank Digital Currency
The Bank of Canada has confirmed that they are looking at a Central Bank Digital Currency for Canada, while claiming they “do not have plans” to issue it:
“We are building the capability to issue a digital version of the Canadian dollar—known as a central bank digital currency (CBDC)—that Canadians can trust and rely on so we can be ready should the need arise. Currently, we do not have plans to issue a digital currency. Ultimately, Parliament and the Government of Canada will determine if or when to issue a CBDC.
Simply put, a CBDC is digital money issued by a central bank.
If a Canadian CBDC were issued, individuals and businesses could use it to pay for products or services using a mobile phone or a special card or device. It would be like cash but with the added benefit of being able to be used online.
This official digital currency would retain its face value in Canadian dollars because it is issued by the Bank of Canada, just like bank notes.”
Interestingly, despite their claim that they aren’t planning on issuing a CBDC, the Bank of Canada recently announced a collaboration with MIT on a CBDC.
Further, they are already shifting their language, now saying “no decision has been made on whether to introduce a CBDC in Canada.”
It is quite clear that the government and Bank of Canada are pushing Canada in the direction of having CBDC.
This is disturbing to see, because a CBDC would be disastrous for our freedom, and make our economy even more vulnerable.
To start with, consider how the Liberal government abused the Emergencies Act in order to punish political opponents.
They used lies and false news stories to ‘justify’ the use of emergency powers, and even froze the bank accounts of some Canadian Citizens.
Imagine what the Trudeau government would do with the power of a Central Bank Digital Currency.
It would centralize state power and control over our economy to a massive degree, and would erase any idea of privacy that remains.
The Liberals wouldn’t hesitate to weaponize a CBDC against their political enemies, seeking to drive opponents out of the economy entirely.
As if that’s not enough, the Rogers outage demonstrated how dangerous it is for a society to be nearly ‘cashless.’
Many businesses were unable to process Interac transactions, and much of the economy ground to a halt because Rogers wasn’t working.
Now, imagine a society with a fully centralized CBDC, where cash has been completely eliminated.
Imagine a Rogers-style outage, except this time over the entire economy, and with no cash backup.
And, considering that the government is almost certainly more incompetent than Rogers, just imagine how bad things could get.
A CBDC would thus bring together anti-freedom state centralization, and government incompetence.
Look at how much fell apart because one telecom company went down. What would happen if the entire economy was dependent on a CBDC, and then that went down?
The importance of decentralization
In an increasingly complex and competitive economy, decentralization is essential. It creates room for innovation, and reduces the impact of a failure at any single point. A decentralized system is a more resilient system.
It is also a benefit to freedom, because decentralization reduces state power and gives people more choice.
Consider how the decentralization of the media – something the Liberals and establishment press are desperately trying to reverse – has helped to hold the government accountable and enabled more Canadians to share their perspective than ever before.
A Central Bank Digital Currency would be a massive assault on our freedoms, and would make our economy and our nation incredibly vulnerable.
The Rogers outage was a preview of what could happen if a CBDC was brought in, and we must fully reject any politician or government official who tries to push a CBDC on us.
Spencer Fernando
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