The Empty Vault: Canada's Gold-Free Reserves, and the Case for Deciding Them in Public

Canada is the only G7 country that holds no gold in its official international reserves. It sold the last of 1,023 tonnes in 2016, and today about seven in ten of its liquid reserve dollars are US dollars. Since 2022, central banks around the world have bought gold at the fastest pace in decades. This project contains a policy brief that sets out the facts, the government's reasons and the case both ways, and applies the four checks of Channels, Not Dams (independent evaluation, transparency, a flagging channel and monitoring from below) to how the decision is made. The brief does not recommend buying or not buying gold; it argues that the choice should be examined and decided in public. A companion research invitation sets out nine open questions for graduate students and researchers. Citizen Stance / Position Citoyenne, Ontario, Canada. Contact: [email protected].