Free Banking and the Bank of Canada

It is argued that today's Canadian monetary system has certain important characteristics in common with a free banking regime such as might have evolved had matters been left to market forces, and that the Bank of Canada's recent success probably has more than a little to do with this fact. It is also argued, however, that, in Canada at the current juncture, further progress towards "free banking" as this alternative is nowadays known, would likely involve unilateral adoption of the US dollar as the basis for the monetary system. Hence, on the 70th anniversary of the Bank of Canada's founding, the author's wish that it may enjoy many happy returns of its birthday is a particularly sincere one.