Man on Canadian Currency.

Factual Questions
1

It is interesting living in a U.S. town on the border of Canada as I do. So not surprisingly, I have seen alot of Canadian money in my day. The Queen of England is on most Canadian coins and bank notes naturally because Canada is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations. But every so often I come across a bank note with a man’s portrait on it. There is no name under his portrait, so I can’t just look it up with a google search or something. Further confusing me, he seems to be dressed in old clothes, perhaps from the 18th century :confused: . Who is this man? And why is he so important, he is on an even plain with the Queen?

Thank you in advance to all who reply :slight_smile:

2

WAG: George VI.

3

More importantly though, she’s the Queen of Canada.

4

There’s info here about Canadian notes and who the people are appearing on them.

5

Is it this guy?

6

Depends on which man you mean. We have a few.

As far as coins go, you’d only really see George VI as garygnu mentioned… And only on old coins, before QE2.

Bills can be seen here, Those are the new bills, but the old ones are just of a different design, with a different portait of the same person.

There’s an explanation of who/what’s on the new Candian billshere. There’s also some small pics of the old ones under it.

7

Which bill? There’s more than one non-Queen on Canadian currency. Sir Wilfred Laurier is on the $5, Sir John A. MacDonald is on the $10, William Lyon MacKenzie King is on the $50, and darned if I can remember who’s on the $100…

Because he (whoever he is, see above) is a former Prime Minister. Sir John A. MacDonald was the first Prime Minister, for example. Sir Wilfred Laurier was the first French-Canadian Prime Minister. (No, George VI isn’t on there. The Queen is the only monarch on current Canadian currency.)

8

Louis St. Laurent, IIRC.

9

Shows how many $100 bills I’ve handled. Per Cunctator’s link above, it’s Sir Robert Borden.

10

But the monarch is the only person appearing on a current Canadian banknote without a legend saying who she is. (Apparently, you are just supposed to know.) Presumably this also held for her father, King George VI… and you have to go back to the 1937 series of banknotes to get pictures of him.

On looking through the Bank of Canada info linked to by Cunctator, I see that the 1986 series of banknotes provided the names of the politicians. I encounter one of these banknotes every few weeks, usually a twenty.

The 1969-79 series of banknotes did not have the politicians’ names labeled. But they’re the same people as on the current notes. It’s still possible that you may run into one of these notes, even though that was two series back.

The previous 1954 series were rare even in the mid-seventies, and only had the Queen.

Coins, on the other hand, say who the monarch is.

11

Oh, and one minor nitpick. The Queen is not the Queen of Canada merely because she is head of the Commonwealth. There are a fair number of Commonwealth countries who do not have her as head of state, are republics and have a president as head of state, or even have another monarch as head of state (I think Tonga fits into this category, although I could be wrong).

The Queen is Queen of Canada through other arrangements. Basically, before the Balfour Declaration of 1926, it was all the British Empire, with one unitary crown. After 1926, the UK and its self-governing colonies were considered to be equal in status, and the monarchy was considered to be a separate entity in each colony.

Theoretically, Canada could pick a different successor monarch than the UK when Queen Elizabeth II dies. I have no idea how this selection would take place.

12

It’s probably the Canadian Tire guy. The OLD Canadian Tire guy.