# Man on Canadian Currency.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 16, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030 "2006-05-16T21:49:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/1 "2006-05-16T21:49:36Z")
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 😕 . 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 🙂
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/2 "2006-05-16T22:08:56Z")
WAG: George VI.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/3 "2006-05-16T22:13:10Z")
> [@Jim B.](#):
>
> The Queen of England is on most Canadian coins and bank notes naturally because Canada is a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
More importantly though, she’s the _Queen of Canada_.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/4 "2006-05-16T22:21:40Z")
There’s info [here](http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/general/character/2001-04.html) about Canadian notes and who the people are appearing on them.
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### Author:  [@Queuing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queuing)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/5 "2006-05-16T22:24:51Z")
Is it this [guy?](http://www2.canadiantire.ca/CTenglish/ctmoney.html#facts)
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### Author:  [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/6 "2006-05-16T22:24:52Z")
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](http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/images&downloads/downloads_misc_currency.html), 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 bills[here](http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/symbols_facts&lists/currency.html). There’s also some small pics of the old ones under it.
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### Author:  [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/7 "2006-05-16T22:25:47Z")
> [@Jim B.](#):
>
> Who is this man?
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…
> [@](#):
>
> And why is he so important, he is on an even plain with the Queen?
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.)
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### Author:  [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/8 "2006-05-16T23:05:19Z")
> [@Orbifold](#):
>
> …darned if I can remember who’s on the $100…
Louis St. Laurent, IIRC.
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### Author:  [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/9 "2006-05-16T23:07:39Z")
Shows how many $100 bills I’ve handled. Per **Cunctator** ’s link above, it’s Sir Robert Borden.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/10 "2006-05-16T23:18:49Z")
> [@Orbifold](#):
>
> 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.)
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.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/11 "2006-05-16T23:40:03Z")
> [@Jim B.](#):
>
> 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 😕 . 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 🙂
Oh, and one minor nitpick. The Queen is not the Queen of Canada merely because she is head of the [Commonwealth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations). 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.
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### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-on-canadian-currency/357030/12 "2006-05-17T00:35:59Z")
It’s probably the Canadian Tire guy. The OLD Canadian Tire guy.