# Canada to move to plastic banknotes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 4, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344 "2010-03-04T23:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/161 "2011-12-04T03:16:04Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > [An interesting backgrounder](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/currencies/funny-money-how-counterfeiting-led-to-a-major-overhaul-of-canadas-money/article2258968/) from the Globe. Apparently the previous series of Canadian banknotes was being counterfeited ridiculously often, even with the holograms. Thanks for the link. That’s a really good article. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/162 "2011-12-04T03:25:52Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Thanks for the link. That’s a really good article. No prob! Internet obsessions are what we’re here for! The only counterfeit banknote I’ve ever gotten was a Journey $10, the first version that had the gold maple-leaf overprint and no hologram stripe. I got it as change in a cab on the way to work one hurried day, and went to spend it on a meat pie in the snack shop at the subway station, and they wouldn’t accept it. Later, the cashier at the company caf showed me some ways to distinguish counterfeits (paper ones anyways): they smudge when wet, and the one I had changed texture after it dried. I kept it pinned to the wall of my cube for a couple of years. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/163 "2011-12-04T04:15:37Z")
**Sunspace** , that’s a great backgrounder article. Thanks! I got one of the new $100 bills yesterday, just to have a longer look at it than my cabdriver buddy would allow me. It is interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/164 "2011-12-06T04:25:22Z")
Anyone else notice that the silver metallic iridescent “holographic” stripe scrapes off real easily? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/165 "2011-12-06T14:04:56Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Anyone else notice that the silver metallic iridescent “holographic” stripe scrapes off real easily? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/166 "2011-12-06T18:18:11Z")
And it’s gone. I met the person I owed $100 to. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/167 "2011-12-07T04:24:52Z")
I’m Australian, plastic banknotes are old news. Paper banknotes seem like black and white TVs to me. You guys are still using them? Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/168 "2011-12-07T08:19:55Z")
I think it is a bit funny that Canada moving to plastic notes warrants a thread that is 4 pages long. Doesn’t anything ever happen there? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/169 "2011-12-07T13:55:09Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I think it is a bit funny that Canada moving to plastic notes warrants a thread that is 4 pages long. Doesn’t anything ever happen there? Hopefully not. One of the businesses in town offers secure data storage based on nothing ever happening here. It got pretty exciting last night, though, for the lights went on for the first time this season at the cross-country ski trails by my place. Yipee! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/170 "2011-12-22T06:55:06Z")
Nope! Nothing ever happens here.\* [sub]\*except for the times the Jays won the World Series, and the floods in '97, and when that guy got beheaded on the intercity bus, and the Oka Crisis, and the time there was an earthquake outside Ottawa… We haven’t had any volcanoes lately, though.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/171 "2011-12-22T07:01:45Z")
But you do have plastic bank notes don’t you? I think I read that somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/172 "2011-12-22T12:25:57Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > But you do have plastic bank notes don’t you? I think I read that somewhere. Nope, none up my way yet. Fresh paper C-notes, yes, but plastic, no. I feel unloved. Until we get some plastic bills up this way, I think my region should blocade the highway at the bridge where it is the only road connecting eastern and western Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/173 "2011-12-26T23:12:35Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > The microwave thing reminded me of the two pound coins we have in the U.K. They have a silver -coloured circle inside a gold-coloured (oh, let’s call it circle - too tired to find the correct word), and apparently when they were new, some people were quite entertained to find that if you put these coins in a freezer, the inner circle would drop out. What the heck is the point of ruining your money? Weirdness! I assume you could reassemble the coin on a flat surface, while it’s still cold, and it would fix itself? Still, your mint should fix this. IIRC both Canada and Mexico have two-alloy “ring” coins but I never heard of this being possible with any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/174 "2011-12-27T19:12:57Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I assume you could reassemble the coin on a flat surface, while it’s still cold, and it would fix itself? > > Still, your mint should fix this. IIRC both Canada and Mexico have two-alloy “ring” coins but I never heard of this being possible with any of them. Canada’s two dollar coin (the toonie) had this issue when it was originally released too. They fixed it somehow, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/175 "2012-01-12T20:36:03Z")
I just received my first plastic $100. The transparent part is nicely placed, so that if I duct tape the edge of the bill to the bridge of my nose, I can see through the bill with one eye. Once I receive another one, I’ll be able to make a pair of Robert Borden Super-Goggles. DA-da-DAAAAA! (Muffin stands with arms akimbo, looking out proudly over Her Majesty’s Dominion.) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/176 "2012-01-12T20:40:50Z")
Fear the absolute refraction of the Borden Super-Goggles! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/177 "2012-01-12T20:52:34Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I think it is a bit funny that Canada moving to plastic notes warrants a thread that is 4 pages long. Doesn’t anything ever happen there? Every week, I get my TIME magazine, and turn to the “World” spread, which has ten red dots on a map of the globe, showing the world’s hotspots: tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns, car-bombings, coups, plummeting currencies, congressional stand-offs, mass protests against crooked elections, and so on. I can’t remember ever seeing a red dot in Canada. Nope, nothing much happens up here. We like it that way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/178 "2012-01-12T20:54:41Z")
To quote Brent Butt, on receiving a $100 bill: “Gordon, you and me are going places!” ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/179 "2012-01-12T21:34:46Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Every week, I get my TIME magazine, and turn to the “World” spread, which has ten red dots on a map of the globe, showing the world’s hotspots: tsunamis, nuclear meltdowns, car-bombings, coups, plummeting currencies, congressional stand-offs, mass protests against crooked elections, and so on. > > I can’t remember ever seeing a red dot in Canada. And I hope we never do. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344/180 "2012-01-12T21:49:20Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I think it is a bit funny that Canada moving to plastic notes warrants a thread that is 4 pages long. Doesn’t anything ever happen there? Sure, lots happens here. For example, just last year we changed to a new type of $100 bill! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canada-to-move-to-plastic-banknotes/531344.md?page=10)