A new fiscal budget will bring some new innovations that Canadians will be using every day. They will be paying with plastic.  Not saying that their debit and credit cards are not plastic, but Canadian cash will undergo plastic changes as well.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced in the federal budget on Thursday that Canada will be using new money. Specifically reading from Budget 2010 under the Chapter Building on a Strong Economic Foundation, the Minister says that the Government wants "to modernize Canada's currency and protect against counterfeiting." That is why the Bank of Canada will start printing new bank notes in 2011.

Flaherty in his Budget claims that the bank notes "will have increased security features and will be printed on a polymer material." Polymer is used in plastic, so the new bank notes will be almost indestructible. The material is considered to be more durable and resistant to tears or damage. New Canadian bank notes should last longer than the "current cotton-based paper, thereby reducing production costs and the impact on the environment."  

The notes should be printed in Canada and they are expected to have a revamped design, including a small window on the bill that prevents photocopying. One-and two-dollar coins are supposed to undergo change as well. Mr. Flaherty writes that "the composition of the $1 and $2 coins using the Royal Canadian Mint's less expensive patented multi-ply plated steel technology."

As the annual budget is all about the money and this time stimulating and saving, money has to be saved, so this is, according to Harper's minority government, the way to go. The initial cost of these changes is unknown.

 Jana Paskova

Photo: ISIFA