Americans and Canadians culture Q&A Thread.

[bcla]

What do you call pencils that have coloured lead in them?

In the United States:

In Canada:

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In Japan. I used to use Pentel mechanical pencils - either a Sharp or Quicker Clickr. I tried these out once and they kept on breaking.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Just something I was thinking about as I watched Law and Order and Goldbergs this weekend - you guys elect more people than we do. We don't election sheriffs, DAs and comptrollers.

We just vote for school trustee and mayor (civic) , MLA (provincial) and MP (federal). Not that this is anything cultural. Just an observation from watching tv.

 

[Aladora]

In the United States:

In Canada:

\

In Japan. I used to use Pentel mechanical pencils - either a Sharp or Quicker Clickr. I tried these out once and they kept on breaking.

Yes, they are marketed as coloured pencils but know colloquially as pencil crayons.

 

[bcla]

Just something I was thinking about as I watched Law and Order and Goldbergs this weekend - you guys elect more people than we do. We don't election sheriffs, DAs and comptrollers.

We just vote for school trustee and mayor (civic) , MLA (provincial) and MP (federal). Not that this is anything cultural. Just an observation from watching tv.

We elect a lot of people. Judges, school boards, utility district boards. Even local park boards.

 

[tvguy]

I don't recall that they've ever cancelled any government issued currency before. When I visited in 2015 it was several years after they'd switched new not production to the polymer bills, but I was still getting a few paper notes in change or exchange. When I visited in 1988, that's was after the introduction of $1 and $2 coins, although bills were still being printed and circulated.

It was odd because Canada was still printing CAD $1000 bills until 2000. I read somewhere that they were popular around the world with drug dealers because it was a lot more compact than the some common US $100 bill.

OK - I looked it up and Canada did remove the legal tender status from several bills, but they can always be exchanged at the Bank of Canada.

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/about-legal-tender/​

Not all bank notes are legal tender​

As of January 1, 2021, the $1, $2, $25, $500 and $1,000 bills from every Bank of Canada series are no longer legal tender.​

These bank notes have not been produced in decades, so the decision to remove them from circulation has had little impact on most of us.​

• The $1 and the $2 notes stopped being issued in 1989 and 1996, respectively, and were replaced with coins.
• The $25 note was a commemorative note. Both it and the $500 note were discontinued shortly after they were issued in 1935.
• The $1,000 note stopped being issued in 2000.

Removing legal tender status from these bills means that they are no longer considered money. Essentially, you may no longer be able to spend them in a cash transaction. This does not mean that the notes are worthless. The Bank of Canada will continue to honour them at face value.​

My mom always kept $200 cash Canadian on hand in case she had to make a trip up on short notice like the death of one of her siblings. I inherited that money, and my cousins warned me to spend it all on my October 2019 trip since paper currency was being phased out. Merchants didn't even think twice of about accepting them, although I was only in touristy places in Vancouver and Victoria where they also accepted U.S. dollars.......but at face value.

 

[E&Cmom]

Yes, they are marketed as coloured pencils but know colloquially as pencil crayons.

Agree, I have never heard “coloured pencils “ in conversation. It is always Pencil Crayons.

 

[SirDuff]

[

My mom always kept $200 cash Canadian on hand in case she had to make a trip up on short notice like the death of one of her siblings. I inherited that money, and my cousins warned me to spend it all on my October 2019 trip since paper currency was being phased out. Merchants didn't even think twice of about accepting them, although I was only in touristy places in Vancouver and Victoria where they also accepted U.S. dollars.......but at face value.

Say what? I mean, I guess *technically* they aren't wrong since our money is now made of plastic (not paper) but, no, it is not being phase out except for some bills (none of which have been printed in decades) - $1, $2, $25, $500, and $1,000. Even then, none lose their value - you'd just have to go to a bank to exchange them (much like national currency in countries that changed to the Euro).

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2020/11/changes-legal-tender-status-take-effect-2021/

ETA - of course merchants didn't think twice about accepting legal, valid, and in-use Canadian currency. Why the heck would they?

 

[declansdad]

My mom always kept $200 cash Canadian on hand in case she had to make a trip up on short notice like the death of one of her siblings. I inherited that money, and my cousins warned me to spend it all on my October 2019 trip since paper currency was being phased out. Merchants didn't even think twice of about accepting them, although I was only in touristy places in Vancouver and Victoria where they also accepted U.S. dollars.......but at face value.

Paper currency is not being phased out, at least not anytime soon. Some bills have been taken out of circulation and are no longer legal tender as of Jan 21, 2021 but those bills were the $1, $2, $25, $500 and the $1000. The first two have been around in a long time, I've never seen a $25 or $500 bill in my life and the $1000 bill, only at a bank.

 

[Aladora]

My mom always kept $200 cash Canadian on hand in case she had to make a trip up on short notice like the death of one of her siblings. I inherited that money, and my cousins warned me to spend it all on my October 2019 trip since paper currency was being phased out. Merchants didn't even think twice of about accepting them, although I was only in touristy places in Vancouver and Victoria where they also accepted U.S. dollars.......but at face value.

I can assure you that paper money is not being phased out here, at least not $5 and up!

As for accepting US$ here in Victoria, ymmv. Some places will accept it but at face value or with a fixed exchange rate and other places will not. I worked in quite a few retail places over the last 29 years and as I said, it varied from place to place. I cannot tell you HOW many times I had to have the conversation about why we could not give US$ back in change if someone was paying with US$! Also, when I worked in a bookstore for many years, I also had to explain why we could not charge the printed US$ price on a book when the customer was paying in US$.

Then again, I also had to explain to tourists that no, there is not a bridge they can cross to get from the island to the mainland.

 

[VandVsmama]

I'm curious to know how many Americans have visited Canada? I don't know a single Canadian that hasn't been Stateside, but I am also very close to the border. It (was) easy to pop over for a shopping trip on any given day.

I've been a couple of times, including once on my honeymoon to British Columbia.

 

[CdnCarrie]

We elect a lot of people. Judges, school boards, utility district boards. Even local park boards.

Except school board trustees all of those jobs are just government hired employees.
Judges are appointed from crown attorneys. Crown attorneys are hired government employees.
You folks must have very long ballots!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Except school board trustees all of those jobs are just government hired employees.
Judges are appointed from crown attorneys. Crown attorneys are hired government employees.
You folks must have very long ballots!

Going to advance vote tomorrow for our November 2nd election. For my area it's just 2 on the ballot one for school board another for city council. But other parts of my county have mayors, etc on their ballots.

Usually on the judges in our area it will say yes/no on should so and so retain their position and when that happens the ballot can become quite long.

you guys elect more people than we do. We don't election sheriffs, DAs and comptrollers.

And when someone doesn't do what the people want them to do we get to vote those people out

A person who was on our County Commission last year probably would have retained his seat but unfortunately had some views related to covid that didn't jive with our area at the time and he lost his seat. School Board members have become much more important in covid era than it was previously.

It's a hotbed topic around my area for when it was suggested that the sheriff become an appointed vs elected position.

 

[bcla]

Paper currency is not being phased out, at least not anytime soon. Some bills have been taken out of circulation and are no longer legal tender as of Jan 21, 2021 but those bills were the $1, $2, $25, $500 and the $1000. The first two have been around in a long time, I've never seen a $25 or $500 bill in my life and the $1000 bill, only at a bank.

That's quite unlike US currency, which is still legal tender and there is no law or regulation that mandates that "retired" notes can't be accepted for payment. I remember once asking for US $2 bills at a bank and I even got a few US Notes, which have a red (instead of green) seal. I think the bank was theoretically supposed to return them for destruction. There are a lot of different types of US currency that are still legal tender, but will be recalled by the US Federal Reserve once a retail bank receives one. Stuff like United States Notes, US Silver Certificates, or US Gold Certificates. There was even a $100,000 US Gold Certificate that was only exchanged between different Federal Reserve Banks.

https://www.moneyfactory.gov/100000goldcertificate.html

Not sure if Canada ever had private bank notes. We've had those in the US in the 19th Century. Hong Kong still uses them, although one of the issuing banks is a state owned Chinese bank. I exchanges some once at a US bank branch, and the teller was instructed to look up images of each series from each bank.


Apparently the Governor of the Bank of Canada can recall notes, although the money hasn't been rendered worthless - just not valid for direct use without exchange at a bank. However, I think the recommendation that tvguy got was more or less based in fact although a lot of times people get advice without the specifics.

 

[ronandannette]

I can assure you that paper money is not being phased out here, at least not $5 and up!
As for accepting US$ here in Victoria, ymmv. Some places will accept it but at face value or with a fixed exchange rate and other places will not. I worked in quite a few retail places over the last 29 years and as I said, it varied from place to place. I cannot tell you HOW many times I had to have the conversation about why we could not give US$ back in change if someone was paying with US$! Also, when I worked in a bookstore for many years, I also had to explain why we could not charge the printed US$ price on a book when the customer was paying in US$.

Then again, I also had to explain to tourists that no, there is not a bridge they can cross to get from the island to the mainland.

That would be great though, wouldn't it!

 

[bcla]

Except school board trustees all of those jobs are just government hired employees.
Judges are appointed from crown attorneys. Crown attorneys are hired government employees.
You folks must have very long ballots!

Sometimes really short ballots. Once I voted in a school board election, and that was the only contest on the entire ballot. It was also at some random time in the spring. Along with voting at someone's car garage. Most voting sites are community centers, churches, veterans halls, etc. I voted several times at the main building at a Boy Scout Camp. They had mounted animal heads too, although that did kind of remind me of Country Bear Jamboree. I would have freaked out if they had moved.

 

[CdnCarrie]

That would be great though, wouldn't it!

Every Canadian needs to drive the Confederation Bridge once. It's so freaking long!
Would the BC span of water be wider than that I wonder?

 

[declansdad]

Apparently the Governor of the Bank of Canada can recall notes, although the money hasn't been rendered worthless - just not valid for direct use without exchange at a bank. However, I think the recommendation that tvguy got was more or less based in fact although a lot of times people get advice without the specifics.

Removing it from circulation and removing it's status as legal tender just means you can't use it in a transaction. You simply take it to the bank and they replace it with currency that is legal tender.

Every Canadian needs to drive the Confederation Bridge once. It's so freaking long!
Would the BC span of water be wider than that I wonder?

The Confederation Bridge is just under 13 Kms long, I believe a bridge in BC would need to be twice that long. The weather conditions in BC are also a factor against such a bridge, as is the depth and the ocean floor. The Northumberland Straight is only about 35 meters deep and has a rock bottom. The Georgia Straight would be up to 365 meters deep with a soft bottom that is subject to seismic activity.

 

[Aladora]

Every Canadian needs to drive the Confederation Bridge once. It's so freaking long!
Would the BC span of water be wider than that I wonder?

The Confederation Bridge is just under 13 Kms long, I believe a bridge in BC would need to be twice that long. The weather conditions in BC are also a factor against such a bridge, as is the depth and the ocean floor. The Northumberland Straight is only about 35 meters deep and has a rock bottom. The Georgia Straight would be up to 365 meters deep with a soft bottom that is subject to seismic activity.

Yes, the Confederation Bridge is 13km, the shortest distance from Vancouver Island to the Mainland would be just over 19km.

This article explains why one will likely never be built.

 

[tvguy]

Even then, none lose their value - you'd just have to go to a bank to exchange them (much like national currency in countries that changed to the Euro).

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2020/11/changes-legal-tender-status-take-effect-2021/

ETA - of course merchants didn't think twice about accepting legal, valid, and in-use Canadian currency. Why the heck would they?

My last trip to Canada I was on Canadian Soil on a Sunday, a Monday (Canadian Thanksgiving) and a Sunday so a bank wasn't an option. But merchants, like I said would take just about anything.

 

[bcla]

Removing it from circulation and removing it's status as legal tender just means you can't use it in a transaction. You simply take it to the bank and they replace it with currency that is legal tender.

It's a bit different than how some countries have taken currency out of circulation, which was to completely demonetize the currency. The United States has never taken the step of removing the legal tender status of any currency printed or minted by the government. If someone really wanted to, it's possible to spend a $3 coin, although it would be silly to do so.