OTTAWA – Soon you’ll have even more plastic in your wallet. The Bank of Canada unveiled the new $20 polymer bank note Wednesday that will replace the current paper-cotton bills.
Gone from the back of the bill are the depictions of Canadian artist Bill Reid’s sculptures Raven and the First Men and The Spirit of Haida Gwaii. In their place are the Canadian National Vimy Memorial and clusters of red poppies.
The Queen remains on the front of the bill. But instead of looking off to the right as she does on the paper $20, the new bill has her face placed squarely in the centre of the note, her brow slightly furrowed, staring the money holder in the eye.
The new $20 has all the same security features as the $50 and $100 bills already in circulation.
The current $20 is Canada’s most-counterfeited bill. The RCMP says of the 52,239 counterfeit bank notes passed last year, 25,039 of them were $20s.
These new polymer bills are more durable and harder to fake than paper money.
The Conservative government announced in its 2010 budget that Canada would be switching to synthetic bills.
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled the new bill in Ottawa.
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