Canadian dollar

Canadian dollar

dollar canadien Template:Fr icon
File:CAD100 Front.png File:Loonie reverse view.png $100 $1
ISO 4217
Code	CAD (numeric: 124)
Subunit	0.01
Unit
Symbol	$ or C$‎
Nickname	buck, loonie Template:En icon piastre, huard Template:Fr icon
Denominations
Subunit
1/100	cent Template:En icon and Template:Fr icon
Symbol
cent Template:En icon and Template:Fr icon	¢
Nickname
cent Template:En icon and Template:Fr icon	sou Template:Fr icon
Banknotes	$5, $10, $20, $50, $100
Coins
Freq. used	1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, $1, $2
Rarely used	50¢
Demographics
User(s)	Canada
Issuance
Central bank	Bank of Canada
Website	www.bankofcanada.ca
Printer	Canadian Bank Note Company, BA International Inc.
Mint	Royal Canadian Mint
Website	www.mint.ca
Valuation
Inflation	2.2%
Source	The World Factbook, 2005 est.

For details of banknotes and coins, see Canadian banknotes and Canadian coinage.

The Canadian dollar (currency code CAD) has been the currency of Canada since 1858. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents. The Canadian dollar is the monetary basis for the Canadian economy, with all coins minted by the Royal Canadian Mint and all banknotes printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company and BA International Inc on behalf of the Bank of Canada.

History

Spanish dollar

The first dollars used in Canada were Spanish dollars, eight reales coins issued by Spain and her colonies. Because the colonies used the £sd system for accounting (see Canadian pound), it was necessary to set a valuation or rating for the Spanish dollar in £sd. Different ratings were used in the different colonies. The Halifax rating was introduced c.1750 and was the most commonly used in the northern colonies. It valued the Spanish dollar at 5 shillings (the value of the silver in the coin was equal to 4 shillings 6 pence, the "London rating").

After the American War of Independence, Empire loyalists, settling in Upper Canada (Ontario), brought the York rating (named after New York) of 1 Spanish dollar = 8 shillings. This was officially outlawed (in favour of the Halifax rating) in 1796 but continued to be used well into the 19th century.

During this period, many local banknotes were issued denominated in £sd, dollars, or both. The Bank of Montreal issued notes denominated in dollars in 1817 whereas the Atlantic colonies, with stronger ties to Britain and weaker ones to the United States, preferred the £sd system. Some dollar denominated banknotes bore a depiction of the Spanish dollar coin(s) they were equal to. However, few coins were issued, as the British authorities were unwilling to allow the colonies to mint their own coins. Various different bank tokens were issued in denominations of ½ and 1 penny.

In the French speaking parts of Canada (Lower Canada, formerly New France, later Quebec), the £sd and dollar system swiftly replaced the livre following the conquest by Britain. The dollar was called the piastre on some French language banknotes, whilst some bank tokens were issued in 1 and 2 sous denominations, equal to ½ and 1 penny.

Gold dollar

In 1841, the new Province of Canada declared that its dollar was equal to the gold U.S. dollar and was worth 5 shillings. The silver Spanish dollars were rated at 5 shillings 1 penny, whilst the British sovereign was rated at 1 pound 4 shillings 4 pence, the proper value due to its gold content compared to that of the gold U.S. dollar.

Independent Canadian dollar

The Province of Canada declared that all accounts would be kept in dollars and cents as of January 1, 1858, and ordered the issue of the first official Canadian coins in the same year. The colonies that came together in the Canadian Confederation progressively adopted a decimal system over the next few years. Whilst New Brunswick adopted a dollar equivalent to the Canadian dollar (see New Brunswick dollar), Nova Scotia and Newfoundland did not adopt the same dollar (see Nova Scotian dollar and Newfoundland dollar). Nova Scotia retained its own currency until 1871, whilst Newfoundland issued its own currency until joining the Confederation in 1949.

Finally, the Federal Parliament passed the Uniform Currency Act in April 1871, tying up loose ends as to the currencies of the various provinces and replacing them with a common Canadian dollar. The gold standard was temporarily abandoned during World War I, and definitively abolished on April 10, 1933.

Reserve currency

A number of central banks keep Canadian dollars as a reserve currency. As Canada has many overseas Chinese, China is one such nation. In addition, Canada has one advantage over Europe and the United States: its relative neutrality in world political affairs. In the future, the Canadian dollar could emerge as an important (but certainly not dominant) reserve currency due to its vast hydrocarbon resources.

Circulating currency

Banknotes

File:Tactile Bill.jpg

Canadian banknotes incorporate a braille-like feature to allow blind people to determine the value of the note.

Main article: Canadian banknotes

Canadian banknotes are currently issued in $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 denominations. All notes are identical in size, but each denomination has a different predominant colour: $5 is blue; $10 is purple; $20 is green; $50 is red, and $100 is brown. By late 2006, all new notes will have a full set of modern security features, including a holographic strip, watermark, and other factors. They are issued by the Bank of Canada.

Coinage

Canadian Two Dollar Coin ("Toonie")

Main article: Canadian coinage

Coins are minted by the Royal Canadian Mint, and currently issued in 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1, and $2 denominations. The standard set of faces has Canadian symbols (primarily wildlife) on the reverse, and an effigy of Elizabeth II on the obverse. Commemorative coins with differing reverses are also issued on an irregular basis. 50¢ coins are rarely found in circulation; they are often collected and not used in day-to-day transactions.

Terminology

Canadian English, like American English, uses the slang term "buck" for a dollar. Because of the appearance of the common loon on back of the the dollar coin which replaced the dollar bill in 1987, the word "loonie" was adopted in Canadian parlance to distinguish the Canadian dollar from other currencies, as in "The loonie performed well today on currency markets." When the two-dollar coin was introduced in 1996, the derivative word "toonie" became the common word for it in Canadian English slang.

In French, the currency is also called le dollar; Canadian French slang terms include piastre or piasse (same as "buck," but the original word used in eighteenth-century French to translate "dollar") and huard (equivalent to "loonie"), since huard is French for "loon," the bird appearing on the coin. The French pronunciation cent (silent "t") is generally used for the subdivision; sou is another, informal term.

Value

Inflation in the value of the Canadian dollar has been fairly low since the 1990s, but had been severe for some decades before that.

Since about 84 per cent of Canada's external trade is with the United States, Canadians are mainly interested in the value of their currency against the United States dollar (USD).

Unlike other currencies in the Bretton Woods system whose values were fixed, the Canadian dollar was allowed to float from 1950 to 1962. From 1952 to 1960, the Canadian dollar traded at a slight premium over the US dollar, reaching a high of US$1.0614 on 20 August 1957 (the all-time high of US$2.78 was reached on 11 July 1864 after the United States had temporarily abandoned the gold standard).

The Canadian dollar fell considerably after 1960, and this contributed to Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's defeat in the 1963 election. The Canadian dollar returned to a fixed exchange rate regime in 1962 when its value was set at about US$0.925, where it remained until 1970. As an inflation-fighting measure, the Canadian dollar was allowed to float in 1970. Its value appreciated and it was worth more than the US dollar for part of the 1970s. The high point was on 25 April 1974 when it reached US$1.0443. The Canadian dollar has continued to float since then, but it has not been above the US dollar since 1976.

Since setting an all-time low of US$0.6179 on January 21, 2002, the Canadian dollar rallied through 2003, 2004, 2005 and the first months of 2006. It reached US$0.85 on November 26, 2004, US$0.87 on December 13, 2005 and set a 28-year high of US$0.9111 during trading on May 9, 2006.

On world markets, the Canadian dollar tended historically to move in the same direction as the U.S. dollar, but less dramatically. A consequence is that at times an apparently rising Canadian dollar is often falling against most of the world's currencies, and vice-versa. However, during the relatively sharp rise of the Canadian dollar since 2002, it has "parted way" with the U.S. dollar and has gained value against it, while also rising against other major international currencies.

Although there was a great deal of domestic concern when the Canadian dollar was trading much lower than the U.S. dollar, there is also concern among exporters when the dollar appreciates quickly. The rapid rise in the value of the Canadian dollar increases the price of Canadian exports to the United States, which make up a large part of the economy. On the other hand, Canadian industry enjoys advantages from a rising dollar, primarily in that it is cheaper to purchase foreign material and businesses.

Current CAD exchange rates
From Google Finance:	AUD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From Yahoo! Finance:	AUD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From XE.com:	AUD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY USD
From OANDA:	AUD CHF CNY EUR GBP HKD JPY USD

External links

• Exchange Rate Lookup
• A History of the Canadian dollar
• Bank of Canada — bank notes
• Banknotes of Canada at Will's Online World Paper Money Gallery
• Royal Canadian Mint
• History of the earliest forms currency in Canada
• Maple Leaf Web: The Value of the Canadian Dollar
• Maple Leaf Web: The Fall & Rise of the Canadian Dollar