Some Canadian paper currency will no longer be considered legal tender
The Liberal government put forth their 2018 budget plan, titled “Equality + Growth, A Strong Middle Class” on Tuesday. The document spans 367 pages, and focuses on providing funds to help tackle the opioid crisis, cope with a surge in asylum seekers crossing the border from the United States, and improve living conditions for Indigenous people. In addition it makes strives to further equality for women by targeting new parental supports, gender equality, anti-harassment initiatives, and measures to promote pay equity.
Also buried in this hefty document, is an item indicating that some old forms of paper currency will no longer be considered viable tender. Those bills affected are the $1000, $500, $25, $2, and $1. The bills mentioned have all been out of print for some time, but have still been considered legal tender, meaning it could be used for everyday transactions. However, this is about to change.
"In short, removing legal tender status means that some older bank notes would no longer have the official status of being approved for payments of debt. Essentially, that means you would no longer be able to spend that 1935 $25 bank note to buy items at a store," the central bank explains on its website.
"Having the power to remove legal tender status from bank notes means that we can do a better job of keeping the notes in circulation current. Newer bank notes have better security features that make them difficult to counterfeit, and they are in better condition overall."
The document does not say when the bills with cease as legal tender, but stresses that those in possession of the bills will be able to cash them in at their bank.