- published: 18 Jan 2016
- views: 32154
The Canadian dollar (sign: $; code: CAD) is the currency of Canada. As of 2011, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents.
In 1841, the Province of Canada adopted a new system based on the Halifax rating. The new Canadian pound was equal to four US dollars (92.88 grains gold), making one pound sterling equal to 1 pound, 4 shillings, and 4 pence Canadian. Thus, the new Canadian pound was worth 16 shillings and 5.3 pence.
The 1850s was a decade of wrangling over whether to adopt a sterling monetary system or a decimal monetary system based on the US dollar. The local population, for reasons of practicality in relation to the increasing trade with the neighbouring United States, had a desire to assimilate the Canadian currency with the American unit, but the imperial authorities in London still preferred the idea of sterling to be the sole currency throughout the British Empire. In 1851, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Canada passed an act for the purposes of introducing a pound sterling unit in conjunction with decimal fractional coinage. The idea was that the decimal coins would correspond to exact amounts in relation to the US dollar fractional coinage.
Justin Pierre James Trudeau, MP (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician. He has represented the Montreal electoral division of Papineau in the Canadian House of Commons since 2008 as a member of the Liberal Party and currently serves as the party's critic for youth, post-secondary education, and amateur sport.
Trudeau is the eldest son of the late former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Sinclair Trudeau Kemper. His maternal grandfather, James Sinclair, was also a federal cabinet minister.
Trudeau was born on December 25, 1971, in Ottawa, Ontario. He was only the second child in Canadian history to be born when one of his parents was prime minister; the first was John A. Macdonald's youngest daughter Margaret Mary Macdonald, and Trudeau's younger brothers Alexandre (Sacha) (born December 25, 1973) and Michel (1975–98) were the third and fourth, respectively. Pierre and Margaret Trudeau separated in 1977, when Justin was six years old, and Pierre retired as prime minister in 1984. Of his mother and father's marriage, Trudeau said in 2009, "They loved each other incredibly, passionately, completely. But there was 30 years between them and my mom never was an equal partner in what encompassed my father's life, his duty, his country."