Bank of Canada cancels $200 banknote idea

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Just read this article on how the BOC has decided not to introduce a $200 banknote due to retailer's objections. This may have been a new Journey series note as it mentions not introducing the note "at this point in time".  Oh well..

"OTTAWA (CP) - The Bank of Canada has withdrawn a proposal to introduce a $200 banknote after a survey of retailers showed strong opposition.... "

...  "the bank does not intend to introduce the $200 denomination at this point in time," ...


http://www.canada.com/topics/finance/story.html?id=ddfeb0db-b2a7-4a3d-bc7c-1b0d0db2572f&k=21673

For some reason, the link does not work.  

Here's the cut and paste version:

Central bank halts plans for $200 banknote after retailers object

Dean Beeby, Canadian Press
Published: Saturday, August 19, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - The Bank of Canada has withdrawn a proposal to introduce a $200 banknote after a survey of retailers showed strong opposition.

The central bank has been casting about for a high-denomination replacement for the $1,000 banknote after it ceased to be printed in May 2000 to help thwart money launderers and drug dealers, who prefer large bills.

Canada's highest circulating note is currently the brown $100 bill, featuring a picture of former prime minister Sir Robert Borden and, on the reverse, exploration and innovation themes.

A bank-commissioned survey of 2,000 retailers last December asked whether store owners would accept a circulating $200 bill.

Fifty-nine per cent said they were opposed, with 40 per cent saying they "strongly opposed" any such move.

"There currently exists a significant current of opposition to the introduction of a $200 banknote," concludes a heavily censored report by Toronto-based SES Canada Research Inc., obtained under the Access to Information Act.

The telephone survey taken Dec. 13-22 is considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Opposition was strongest in Quebec, with 70 per cent of retailers giving a thumbs down.

Asked why a $200 bill was not acceptable, retailers answered most often that they feared it would be counterfeited. Others were worried that a customer might clean out all the change in the till after a single transaction.

The fear of counterfeiting came as a surprise to bank officials because since 2002 counterfeiters most often target the $10 and $20 denomination, using cheap but sophisticated colour-copying equipment.

Those two low-denomination bills account for about 82 per cent of all counterfeits passed, with the $100 bill accounting for only about seven per cent.

"There's still a big misconception among the public that higher denomination notes are the main target" of counterfeiters, bank spokeswoman Monica Lamoureux said from Mississauga, Ont.

Even so, "the bank does not intend to introduce the $200 denomination at this point in time," she said.

"Obviously, there was strong opposition to it based on the survey results, so it's not in the works."

Lamoureux said the recent SES survey results were an important consideration in the central bank's decision not to proceed.

No design work for a new bill had been carried out, nor had a proposal gone to federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who must approve any new denomination.

The Bank of Canada carries out regular surveys about the confidence Canadians have in their currency. A poll last year suggested that 39 per cent of Canadians expect to receive a counterfeit bill, a big jump from 24 per cent the year before.

The government plans to introduce a revamped $5 bill in November with new security features to make counterfeiting more difficult. Higher denominations have already had makeovers.

Now if the bank of canada had issued a $200 note... what do you suppose they would use for the prefix??? AFA, AAA,

Instead of a $200, they should re-issue the $500!  

Wait a while.  A $200 note will come eventually, along with possible a $500 note and even a $1,000 note.  All we need is for inflation to take its course.  

It'll take a while.  Consider an item that costs $25 today.  Assuming an annual inflation rate of 3.5%, in sixty years that item will cost $197.  At that point, a $200 note will be useful.  Assuming, that is, that the Canadian dollar is still in existence at that point.   :-?

[size=18]Bank of Canada drops plans for $200 bill[/size]
Last Updated Sat, 19 Aug 2006 23:59:45 EDT
CBC News
  
The Bank of Canada is abandoning its plan to release a $200 banknote, saying that too many merchants were opposed to the plan.
 
The central bank commissioned a survey of 2,000 retailers last December, asking whether the stores would accept a circulating $200 bill. Fifty-nine per cent said they were opposed, with 40 per cent saying they "strongly opposed" to the idea.
 
The telephone survey is considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
 
Some retailers said they worried that the $200 bill would be counterfeited, while others said the bill would require them to keep an inordinate amount of change in the till.
 
Canada's highest circulating bill is currently the $100 bill. The bank stopped printing the $1,000 bill in May 2000 in an attempt to obstruct money launderers and drug dealers who traditionally favour large bills.
 
The proposal had not been submitted to federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
 
The government plans to roll out a new $5 bill with improved security features on 15 November 2006.
 
With files from the Canadian Press

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/08/19/banknote-canada.html

Now just for fanciful speculation - if they were goint to do a $200 bill, whose portrait would you like to see on the note AND WHY?.

[size=18]Brian Mulroney!!!! [/size]  

We can have REAL funny money!

They could start making $500's again, but that would be borderline blasphemous. (Considering the high reverence we have for them  ).
I would say IF we did have one, it would have to be a great "builder". Someone who has helped form Canadians in away like no other.  The people I am talking about onthis "double portrait" note  is of course Walter and the late Phyllis Gretzky.

In England and Europe, they have major figures like that on notes, perhaps for celebrity appeal, but this idea would not be for that, but more for the contributions for minor sport that the family has made (and ultimately Canadian culture), including the supporting of three brothers who made th NHL, including Wayne of course, with the importance of that focussing on how there is something that can bond all (nearly all) Canadians together ultimately as one family.  With that said, my vote goes to Walter and Phyllis, because due to them, Canadians from coast to coast all have something that they can feel proud and unified about (in the character of hard work leading to incredible success).

If Wayne himself were to be on it, then that would be more like "celebrity appeal" in my opinion, and I think would miss the point on what he signifies to Canadians (at this point in time). Not saying Wayne would be bad on our notes, but rather that it is more important to know where he came from, and the family dedication that it took for him to reach his heights.

I really do think a note like this would be taken seriously and would be respected- even by people who are not really into hockey.

Huds

Now just for fanciful speculation - if they were goint to do a $200 bill, whose portrait would you like to see on the note AND WHY?.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, because by the time a $200 note becomes useful,  our current $5 note will have disappeared!  Using my 3.5% annual inflation rate for 60 years figure from my above post, $5 then will buy what 63¢ does today!

But seriously, if they were going to do an additional note now, it would make sense that it be another prime minister to fit with the current series.  Just about any choice would be controversial, but I'd have to suggest Lester B. Pearson, for winning the nobel peace prize.

I Second that one!  

I would agree with Seth.  Lester B. Pearson would be my first choice.

Hey that sounds pretty good, and I like that reasoning about the $5 becoming worth less due to inflation. I never thought of that angle. So Laurier perhaps, or yes Pearson.
I don't know much about Canadian History (unless it is on paper money) so I would not be the person to suggest any major politically historical figures.

BUT being from Saskatchewan, it is my obligatory duty to suggest
Tommy Douglas since it was his vision that we today call medicare (which makes us definitely Canadian).  Yes, even though it has its current resource problems, the medicare system does effect every single person and family in this country, and is also a huge part of our identity as Canadians.

The Queen should be on any new denomination as she is our Head of State. ( I know there's a thread on this topic)
Mackenzie King should be removed from the 50 and replaced by Tommy Douglas (There's a thread on this too)

What about Alexander Graham Bell?  Banting & Best? (insulin)  James Naismith? (inventor of Basketball)?  

Dean

or Celine Dion, Gordon Lightfoot or Anne Murray!!

I also think that the 200 dollar note would be best with Sir Wilfrid Laurier on it. Also on the back of the note have some cool art like the 1937s.  8-)

I know it sounds like the 1937 1000 dollar bill......