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Nation's money will get funnier

Banknotes to join plastic revolution

By: Mia Rabson / Hill Talk

Posted: 03/8/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

OTTAWA -- Some Americans already think Canadian money is better suited to the Monopoly board than a cash register but if they think our money is funny now, just wait.In 2011, Canadian banknotes are leaving the touch and feel of cotton behind in favour of plastic.

The government announced in the budget last Thursday the new banknotes will be made of polymer to make them harder to counterfeit and more durable.

Australia was the first to have plastic money and has issued all its notes in polymer since 1996. Other countries on the polymer money train include Romania, Brunei, New Zealand and Vietnam.

Apparently the Australian $5 plastic banknote lasts 40 months compared to just six months for a paper version. They don't absorb sweat from your palms, they repel dirt and when they do hit the end of their lifespan, they are recycled into compost bins and plumbing pipes.

Not to mention, the occasional $5 bill that ends up in your washing machine will give an entirely new meaning to the term money-laundering.

"ö "ö "ö

The solution to getting more people interested in politics may be for politicians to have more offspring.

Politics does run in the blood of some families.

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Quebec MP Justin Trudeau.

President George H.W. Bush. President George W. Bush.

Manitoba NDP cabinet minister Steve Ashton. Manitoba MP Niki Ashton.

Last week, two more were added to the list.

Michael Layton, the 31-year-old son of federal NDP Leader Jack Layton, announced he will run for Toronto city council in a downtown ward with very similar boundaries to the federal riding currently held by his stepmother, Olivia Chow.

The family fun also includes extended families.

Matt Wiebe, the newly elected MLA for Concordia, is married to Kaila Wiebe, a provincial NDP staffer and his mother-in-law is one-time federal NDP candidate Lorene Mahoney.

"ö "ö "ö

Budget day is one of the biggest news days of the year on Parliament Hill. But after nearly six hours locked up with one another in a conference hall, devoid of access to the Internet, phones or fresh air, the nation's press corps was also concerned with lighter matters, such as the poofy style of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's hairdo and his footwear.

Flaherty has held onto the tradition of buying new shoes for the budget, often using their purchase as a harbinger of what kind of budget he's bringing down.

Two years ago, he didn't buy new shoes, he just had old ones resoled for $56.49 as a sign of what he said was going to be a "prudent budget."

Last year, he went with a $141.09 pair of black work shoes from a store in Gatineau, Que., a sign of a working budget.

Unfortunately, much like the budget itself, the shoes were too tight. Flaherty ultimately donated the shoes to charity and watched the deficit climb from his originally projected $34 billion to more than $53 billion.

This year Flaherty went to a shoe supplier in Whitby, Ont., splurged on a $271.20 pair of black Eccos and according to one of his aides, this year Flaherty's feet fared just fine.

Let's hope that bodes well for Flaherty's fiscal plan as well.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 8, 2010 A6

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