Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used for distinction from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents .
Owing to the image of a common loon on its reverse, the dollar coin, and sometimes the unit of currency itself, may be referred to as the loonie by English-speaking Canadians and foreign exchange traders and analysts. Likewise, amongst French-speaking Canadians, the French word for loon, huard, is also commonly used.
Accounting for approximately two per cent of all global reserves, as of 2024 the Canadian dollar is the fifth-most held reserve currency in the world, behind the US dollar, euro, yen, and sterling. The Canadian dollar is popular with central banks because of Canada's relative economic soundness, the Canadian government's strong sovereign position, and the stability of the country's legal and political systems.
History
Colonial currencies
The 1850s in Canada were a decade of debate over whether to adopt a £sd-based monetary system or a decimal monetary system based on the US dollar. The British North American provinces, for reasons of practicality in relation to the increasing trade with the neighbouring United States, had a desire to assimilate their currencies with the American unit, but the imperial authorities in London still preferred sterling as the sole currency throughout the British Empire. The British North American provinces nonetheless gradually adopted currencies tied to the American dollar.| Currency | Dates in use | Value in sterling | Value in Canadian dollars |
| Canadian pound | 1841–1858 | 16s 5.3d | $4 |
| Canadian dollar | 1858–present | 4s 1.3d | $1 |
| New Brunswick dollar | 1860–1867 | 4s 1.3d | $1 |
| British Columbia dollar | 1865–1871 | 4s 1.3d | $1 |
| Prince Edward Island dollar | 1871–1873 | 4s 1.3d | $1 |
| Nova Scotian dollar | 1860–1871 | 4s | $0.973 |
| Newfoundland dollar | 1865–1895 | 4s 2d | $1.014 |
| Newfoundland dollar | 1895–1949 | 4s 1.3d | $1 |
Province of Canada
In 1841, the Province of Canada adopted a new system based on the Halifax rating. The new Canadian pound was equal to four US dollars, making £1 sterling equal to £1.4s.4d. Canadian. Thus, the new Canadian pound was worth 16 shillings and 5.3 pence sterling.In 1851, the Parliament of the Province of Canada passed an act for the purposes of introducing a sterling-based unit, with decimal fractional coinage. The idea was that the decimal coins would correspond to exact amounts in relation to the US dollar fractional coinage.
In response to British concerns, in 1853, an act of the Parliament of the Province of Canada introduced the gold standard into the colony, based on both the British gold sovereign and the American gold eagle coins. This gold standard was introduced with the gold sovereign being legal tender at £1 = US$. No coinage was provided for under the 1853 act. Sterling coinage was made legal tender and all other silver coins were demonetized. The British government in principle allowed for a decimal coinage but held out hope that a sterling unit would be chosen under the name of "royal". However, in 1857, the decision was made to introduce a decimal coinage into the Province of Canada in conjunction with the US dollar unit. Hence, when the new decimal coins were introduced in 1858, the colony's currency became aligned with the US currency, although the British gold sovereign continued to remain legal tender at the rate of £1 = Can$ right up until the 1990s. In 1859, Canadian colonial postage stamps were issued with decimal denominations for the first time. In 1861, Canadian postage stamps were issued with the denominations shown in dollars and cents.
Maritime colonies
In 1860, the colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia followed the Province of Canada in adopting a decimal system based on the US dollar unit.In 1871, Prince Edward Island went decimal within the US dollar unit and introduced coins in the denomination of 1 cent. However, the currency of Prince Edward Island was absorbed into the Canadian system shortly afterwards, when Prince Edward Island joined the Dominion of Canada in 1873.
Newfoundland
went decimal in 1865, but unlike the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, it decided to adopt a unit based on the Spanish dollar rather than on the US dollar, and there was a slight difference between these two units. The US dollar was created in 1792 on the basis of the average weight of a selection of worn Spanish dollars. As such, the Spanish dollar was worth slightly more than the US dollar, and likewise, the Newfoundland dollar, until 1895, was worth slightly more than the Canadian dollar.British Columbia
The Colony of British Columbia adopted the British Columbia dollar as its currency in 1865, at par with the Canadian dollar. When British Columbia joined Canada as its sixth province in 1871, the Canadian dollar replaced the British Columbia dollar.Post-Confederation history
In 1867, the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia united into a federation named Canada. As a result, their respective currencies were merged into a singular Canadian dollar. The Canadian 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. At the outbreak of World War II, the exchange rate to the US dollar was fixed at Can$1.10 = US$1.00. This was changed to parity in 1946. In 1949, sterling was devalued and Canada followed, returning to a peg of Can$1.10 = US$1.00. However, Canada allowed its dollar to float in 1950, whereupon the currency rose to a slight premium over the US dollar for the next decade. But the Canadian dollar fell sharply after 1960 before it was again pegged in 1962 at Can$1.00 = US$0.925. This was sometimes pejoratively referred to as the "Diefenbuck" or the "Diefendollar", after the then Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker. This peg lasted until 1970, with the currency's value being floated since then.
Terminology
, similar to American English, used the slang term "buck" for a former paper dollar. The Canadian origin of this term derives from a coin struck by the Hudson's Bay Company during the 17th century with a value equal to the pelt of a male beaver – a "buck". Because of the appearance of the common loon on the back of the $1 coin that replaced the dollar bill in 1987, the word loonie was adopted in Canadian parlance to distinguish the Canadian dollar coin from the dollar bill. 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 and huard. The French pronunciation of cent is generally used for the subdivision; sou is another, informal, term for 1¢. 25¢ coins in Quebec French are often called trente sous because of a series of changes in terminology, currencies, and exchange rates. After the British conquest of Canada in 1760, French coins gradually went out of use, and sou became a nickname for the halfpenny, which was similar in value to the French sou. Spanish dollars and US dollars were also in use, and from 1841 to 1858, the exchange rate was fixed at $4 = £1 . This made 25¢ equal to 15d, or 30 halfpence. After decimalization and the withdrawal of halfpenny coins, the nickname sou began to be used for the 1¢ coin, but the idiom trente sous for 25¢ endured.
Coins
Coins are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint's facilities in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Ottawa, Ontario, in denominations of 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, $1, and $2. A 50¢ coin is also struck but is no longer distributed to banks and is only available directly from the mint, therefore seeing very little circulation.The last 1¢ coin to be minted in Canada was struck on May 4, 2012, and distribution of the penny ceased on February 4, 2013. Ever since, the price for a cash transaction is rounded to the nearest five cents. The penny continues to be legal tender, although it is only accepted as payment and is not given back as change.
The standard set of designs has Canadian symbols, usually wildlife, on the reverse, and an effigy of Charles III on the obverse. A large number of pennies, nickels, and dimes are in circulation bearing the effigy of Elizabeth II, and occasionally some depicting George VI can be found. It is also common for American coins to be found among circulation due to the close proximity to the United States and the fact that the sizes and colours of the coins are similar. Commemorative coins with differing reverses are also issued on an irregular basis, most often quarters. 50¢ coins are rarely found in circulation; they are often collected and not regularly used in day-to-day transactions in most provinces.
Coin history
In 1858, bronze 1¢ and 0.925 silver 5¢, 10¢ and 20¢ coins were issued by the Province of Canada. Except for 1¢ coins struck in 1859, no more coins were issued until 1870, when production of the 5¢ and 10¢ was resumed and silver 25¢ and 50¢ were introduced. Between 1908 and 1919, sovereigns were struck in Ottawa with a "C" mintmark.Canada produced its first gold dollar coins in 1912 in the form of $5 and $10. These coins were produced from 1912 to 1914. The obverse carries an image of King George V and on the reverse is a shield with the arms of the Dominion of Canada. Gold from the Klondike River valley in the Yukon accounts for much of the gold in the coins.
Two years into the coin's production World War I began and production of the coins stopped in favour of tighter control over Canadian gold reserves. Most of the 1914 coins produced never reached circulation at the time and some were stored for more than 75 years until being sold off in 2012. The high quality specimens were sold to the public and the visually unappealing ones were melted.
In 1920, the size of the 1¢ was reduced and the silver fineness of the 5¢, 10¢, 25¢ and 50¢ coins was reduced to 0.800 silver/.200 copper. This composition was maintained for the 10¢, 25¢ and 50¢ coin through 1966, but the debasement of the 5¢ coin continued in 1922 with the silver 5¢ being entirely replaced by a larger nickel coin. In 1942, as a wartime measure, nickel was replaced by tombac in the 5¢ coin, which was changed in shape from round to dodecagonal. Chromium-plated steel was used for the 5¢ in 1944 and 1945 and between 1951 and 1954, after which nickel was readopted. The 5¢ returned to a round shape in 1963.
In 1935, the 0.800 silver voyageur dollar was introduced. Production was maintained through 1967 with the exception of the war years between 1939 and 1945.
In 1967 both 0.800 silver/0.200 copper and, later that year, 0.500 silver/.500 copper 10¢ and 25¢ coins were issued. 1968 saw further debasement: the 0.500 fine silver dimes and quarters were completely replaced by nickel ones mid-year. All 1968 50¢ and $1 coins were reduced in size and coined only in pure nickel. Thus, 1968 marked the last year in which any circulating silver coinage was issued in Canada.
File:Canada's "Last Circulating Penny" on display at the Bank of Canada Museum.jpg|thumb|The last minted penny intended for circulation, produced at the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg in 2012, on display at the Bank of Canada Museum in Ottawa
In 1982, the 1¢ coin was changed to dodecagonal, and the 5¢ was further debased to a cupro-nickel alloy. In 1987 a $1 coin struck in aureate-plated nickel was introduced. A bimetallic $2 coin followed in 1996. In 1997, copper-plated zinc replaced bronze in the 1¢, and it returned to a round shape. This was followed, in 2000, by the introduction of even cheaper plated-steel 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢ and 50¢ coins, with the 1¢ plated in copper and the others plated in cupro-nickel. In 2012, the multi-ply plated-steel technology was introduced for $1 and $2 coins as well. Also in that year mintage of the 1¢ coin ceased and its withdrawal from circulation began in 2013.