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G21-P006 Public Borrowing Only from the Bank of Canada
Submitter Name
Radhika Desai
This proposal was discussed in the workshop during Phase 2 of the VGM. However, there was not enough time for this proposal to be voted on in plenary by the members during Phase 2. Therefore, this proposal will not be included in the ratification vote.
Proposal
The GPC advocates federal government action to allow Indigenous, municipal, provincial and federal governments to borrow interest-free from the Bank of Canada to cover deficits without resorting to commercial credit, if necessary by reviewing and revising the Bank of Canada Act, associated rules and regulations and international commitments.
Objective
To change Canada’s public borrowing arrangements to allow federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous governments to access interest free credit to undertake the investments necessary for a transition to a green and socially just economy without resorting to private credit markets, domestic or international, which generate pressure towards austerity.
Benefit
Release all levels of Canadian government from constraints of bond markets that promote austerity;
Enable them to make the investments necessary for a transition to an economy of Just Green Wellbeing with interest-free credit; and
Deprive financial speculators the cushion of safe government debt and thus reduce unproductive speculation and inequality.
Supporting Comments from Submitter
The Bank of Canada has long purchased Government of Canada bonds and during the pandemic it has extended these facilities to provincial governments and other parts of the economy. Our proposal is that the Bank of Canada alone purchase the debt of all Canadian levels of government: federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous.
A well-informed article about how Canada’s governments went from borrowing from the Bank of Canada to borrowing from bond markets and the adverse consequences of this decision.
In 2011, the Committee for Monetary and Economic Reform (COMER) launched lawsuits for the same purpose. In 2017 the supreme court declined to hear the committee’s appeal.
http://www.comer.org/content/SupremeCourtDecision_4May17.htm
The website of the above-mentioned COMER:
http://www.comer.org/index.htm
Green Value(s)
Ecological Wisdom, Sustainability, Participatory Democracy, Social Justice, Respect for Diversity, Non-Violence
Relation to Existing Policy
Add to current GPC policy.
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