How private bankers enslaved Canada.

This is a brilliant article by Ellen Brown about how the Canadian government used to borrow from its own central bank at a zero rate of interest till 1974, when it was persuaded by the Basel Committee to borrow instead from private banks.
Of course the private banks didn’t actually have the funds to lend to the Canadian government: those banks just created the money out of thin air. They did a few book keeping entries and charged billions for doing so: something the Canadian central bank had long been doing for decades and at no cost to taxpayer/citizens.
The incompetence and the stupidity are a wonder to behold. Or perhaps, as Ellen Brown points out, it’s not stupidity at all: it’s very likely a case of private bankers pulling wool over the eyes of politicians and central bank staff. And to some extent it will be a case of private bankers who manage to get into positions of power at central banks pulling wool over everyone’s eyes, and as a reward, being offered lucrative jobs at a private bank on leaving their central bank.

“Government borrowing from its own central bank” is meaningless.
It is important to note that having a government borrow from its own central bank is a near meaningless concept. That activity amounts essentially to government and central bank between them printing new money and spending it into the economy as and when appropriate (and possibly raising taxes and “unprinting” money when inflation looms): exactly what Positive Money, Richard Werner, and the New Economics Foundation advocate.
Of course, the potential problem with letting a government print money is plain as a pikestaff. But if the decision as to how much to print is put into the hands of an independent committee of economists, that should solve the problem.
Indeed, the decision as to how much stimulus to apply is ALREADY IN THE HANDS of independent committees to a large extent in the UK : the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee and the Office for Budget Responsibility. Same goes for numerous other countries.

Debts owed to foreigners.
Another problem with having government borrow from private banks (or the private sector generally) is that foreigners can buy up that debt: it leads to the country becoming indebted to foreigners. And that poses a temptation for politicians: that is, the INITIAL effect for a country of having foreigners fund its expenditure is a rise in living standards, just like you enjoy a temporary rise in living standards when running up a debt on your credit card. And what all politicians want is a rise in living standards while they are in office (that way they get voted back into office), with the resulting mess being left to their successors to sort out.
Hat tip to Mike Ellwood aka Montmorency at “Simon Thorpe's Ideas”.