Yesterday I went to a bank machine to get some cash to take care of everyday living. People need money to live right? Anyway a couple of twenties come out and I noticed that they are the new bills that were just issued by the Bank of Canada last Friday so this was my first chance to get a look at them. I held the back and saw some totems, which are part of the native culture in B.C. (British Columbia) and then I turned and looked at the front and I saw her. “Why the hell is the Queen still on the 20?”
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with her specifically (actually I do but I’m not going to go into it) but wouldn’t it be a novel idea to have a picture of a CANADIAN on the bill instead of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II? Instead I have to look at this woman who’s not even Canadian. She has her face of the back of all our coins so why give someone else a chance or perhaps we should other world figures on out money, like Gandhi on the 50 and George Washington on the 10 and Chairman Mao on the 100. I want Canadians on our money, but the Queen can stay on the back of our coins. Since were part of the Commonwealth, she has to be somewhere, but not the 20 dollar bill.
Then I started to think about who would replace her. There have been many great Canadian over the 137 Years of Confederation and even before that when Canada was still British North America. My mind drew a blank so I asked about a bit and I got some interesting answers, I don’t know if they were talking me seriously but I took note anyway. I heard ideas like Lanny MacDonald, Wayne Gretzky, Don Cherry Guy LaFleur but someone hockey icons didn’t seem right. I also heard John Candy, Keanu Reeves, William Shatner and Alex Trebek but Canadian Entertainers didn’t seem right either. Then I thought of political figures from the past like Pierre Trudeau, John Diefenbaker or Jean Chrétien (I nearly smacked the guy who said that) but while Trudeau did seem somewhat of a good idea, people still haven’t forgiven the man for the National Energy Program which almost completely destroyed the economy, here in Alberta.
Anyway nothing seemed right and I started to think, perhaps the Queen should stay on the 20 dollar bill but I knew she didn’t belong there anymore. I would have preferred René Lévesque, the founded of the Parti Quebecois, a political party whose goal is to see Quebec separate from the rest of Canada and become its own nation, than the Queen. I also thought it would be cool to have the band Rush , or Kim Mitchell or Nickleback but I knew it was wrong.
Anyway I the spoke to someone who had a good idea. She said how about an original Canadian. A traditional native to symbolize an important part of our heritage and I thought it was perfect, but it was too late, the Queen was there and she wasn’t going away so now I have to put up with it. Even though she’s not a Canadian but if I want to see something truly Canadian on our money, I just need to look at the back of our 5 dollar bill.
Children playing hockey outside in the winter; that has meaning to every Canadian. That's a an image all Canadians know.
My 2 bytes
1 comment:
A lot of Canadian money trickles down our way in the states. Canadian pennies are always accepted as currency, but nothing else. I found a $2 Canadian coin not long ago and it freaked everyone out. "They have $2 COINS!? Huh. I didn't know that!" Neither did I.
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