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Canada has had its own money since 1853. Canada's unit of
currency is known as the "Canadian Dollar" and it's
largely a rip-off of the US dollar. Unlike many other ex-British
colonies, Canada never used "pounds" or "shillings"
or any other element of the confusing British monetary system.
Instead, we've always used the so-called "decimal system"
in which one Canadian dollar is equal to 100 Canadian cents.
The Canadian exchange rate is fairly high.
A Canadian dollar tends to be worth about 80 American or Euro
cents.
The "Loonie" is the one-dollar coin. There used
to be a one-dollar bill but they phased it out in the 80's.
It's called a "Loonie" because it has a picture
of a loon (the bird) on one side.
The "Toonie" is the two-dollar
coin. It replaced the old two-dollar bill in the mid-90's.
I remember people didn't quite know what to call it at first,
but eventually the name "toonie" stuck. It has a
polar bear on it.
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FUN FACT! Every single Canadian keeps
an old one and two dollar bill somewhere in their house
because "they might be worth something someday."
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The quarter, dime, nickle, and penny are
the 25, 10, 5, and one cent coins, respectively. They feature
pictures of caribou, sailboats, beavers, and maple leafs,
also respectively.
All coins have portraits of the Queen on
the reserse side. They update the portrait every few years,
adjusting her hairstyle as she ages and so forth. You can
easily tell at a glance how old a coin is by the version of
the portrait on it. Sometimes you even find a really old coin
with her father's portrait.
All these coins are a real hassle, and people
complain a lot about them. They weigh down your wallet with
metal, and give the vending machine people an excuse to raise
their prices.
THE BILLS:
Along with the coins, there are three main
bills that make up the Canadian currency. Canadian bills are
all color-coded, so you can tell at a glance how much they're
all worth. In 2001, the Bank of Canada started releasing some
"new edition" bills in small incriments. These ones
feature hipper-looking graphics and more high-tech technology.
Currently, Canadian paper currency is thus a mixture of these
new, high-tech bills and the simpler models from the 1980's.
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Here's the five dollar bill. It's as
blue as a summer sky.
It features a portrait of Sir Wilfred Laurier, who was
Canada's first French-Canadian Prime Minister.
On the back it has a "salute to hockey."
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Here's the ten dollar bill. It's as
purple as a thousand plums.
It features a portrait of Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's
first Prime Minister.
On the back it has a "salute to peacekeeping."
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Here's the twenty dollar bill. It's
as green as the City of Emeralds from the Wizard
of Oz.
It features a portrait of Queen Elizabeth the Second,
Canada's current monarch and Head of State.
On the back is a "salute to Indian art."
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There are also two rare bills, which most common people rarely
come across: the 50 and the 100. I had to take them out of
the bank, so you can see they're all crispy and new. You'll
also notice they feature a high-tech rainbow foil thingie
on the left side to prevent counterfitting and photocopying.
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Here's the rare 50 dollar bill. It's
as red as the blood of your enemies.
It features a portrait of former Prime Minister William
Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's fearless leader during
World War II.
On the back is a "salute to gender equality"
featuring some of Canada's leading suffragettes.
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Here's the rare 100 dollar bill. It's
as brown as fine Belgian chocolate.
It features a portrait of former Prime Minister Robert
Borden, who fearlessly signed the papers when Britain
demanded Canada send troops to fight in World War One.
On the back is a "salute to cartography."
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There used to be a thousand dollar bill as well (it was pink
and had the Queen on it) but it was phased out when the government
discovered it was only being used by gangsters and drug dealers.
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