Crypto space gaining traction among some Conservative MPs

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner says she hopes her bill to help grow the cryptocurrency sector will get Canadian legislators talking about it in a non-polarized way.

The private member’s bill she introduced in February, which is scheduled for debate in the House of Commons tonight, would compel the government to consult experts and create a plan for crypto assets within three years.

Many Canadians are still confused by how digital currencies, like Bitcoin, even work and exist in Canada. Rempel Garner thinks regulators and law-makers feel similarly lost.

Cryptocurrencies gained a lot of attention when protesters in big rigs blockaded access to Parliament Hill for several weeks beginning in January. Those involved turned to digital assets as a way to collect donations after being dumped by GoFundMe and seeing funds generated by another online fundraising site frozen by an Ontario court.

“We have this sort of rigid polarization, where ‘crypto is the devil, it’s terrible, it’s going to ruin your life’ to ‘crypto is the saviour, it’s going to liberate all things,’” Rempel Garner said Tuesday.

“That’s really oversimplified.”

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Fellow MP and Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre is among those touting cryptocurrencies as an answer to the country’s current economic woes.

Rempel Garner is working on the campaign of Poilievre’s leadership rival, Patrick Brown.

Last week, Poilievre said digital currencies could help Canadians “opt out of inflation” and vowed to make the country more friendly to them.

University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe says buying into cryptocurrencies doesn’t insulate anyone from price changes and inflation. In fact, he says, Bitcoin can be highly volatile for those involved.

“It’s putting crypto out there as some kind of cure-all to the inflation challenges that we’re seeing. And that is not the case — not the case now, and it wouldn’t even be the case in some hypothetical world where we only use crypto,” he said.

Tombe said the main driver of inflation right now is the increase in oil prices.

“It doesn’t matter what currency you’re using to value barrels of oil. If you take a number of barrels off the market, like we have following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, then you’re going to see prices rise. Similarly, during recessions, when demand falls, you’ll see prices fall.”