I Love Money

Canadian money, anyhow. It's so interesting!

Take the $5 bill (the back of it anyhow). Hockey. I always thought of it as one of those Canadian stereotypes - what, are you going to feature "nice people" on the $10 bill? - but it ends up being an important enough piece of the national identity to be featured on money. I have to say it seems weird to me though - people wearing sweatshirts on national currency? Shouldn't they have at least gotten dressed up for the occasion?

Then the $10 bill. Fantastically enough, it really does feature "nice people" in the form of U.N. peacekeepers. This is a source of humor for me (see paragraph above), and it's also a thought-provoking contrast to my own country. I'm not interested in making comparisons re: which country is better; I've just noticed what the Canadian government chooses to highlight as one of its nation's defining characteristics. Oh, and the bill is really colorful. That's nice too.

The $20 bill kills two birds with one stone: native Canadians and art. Alongside the boat of Pacific Northwest native art figures, some of them attempting to eat or kill each other, a short inscription: "Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts? (Gabrielle Roy)" What an enlightened Treasury Department!

Not to knock the greenback or anything; hey, I would never turn one down if it came my way. It's just nice to have a little break from pyramids, floating eyes, and government buildings in greenish black and white. And anyhow, Canadian money is just great PR for the country as a whole. Fresh-faced kids playing winter sports, noble peacekeepers looking out for the best interests of the world, a salute to women's rights (that's the $50 - we don't have many of those laying around the house so I couldn't scan and display one)... who wouldn't want to come to Canada?