The 50 CAD - $50

The 50 CAD - $50

This particular banknote is a big one as it is worth $50. It has a distinguished red colour. A colour that seem to belong in the boardgame of Monopoly. But maybe it has something with the national flag because the Canadian flag is also red. I have on very rare occasion handled the $50 bill. Probably only when I was paying rents and that was more than 3 years ago.

In terms of value, it is also the largest banknote which all stores and supermarkets. There might be some exceptions around which I am not aware but to my knowledge so far all of them accepted the $50 bill. Needless to say that when you have $50, it is worth quite a large of money. you could pay family's dinner at cheap to average priced restaurants with it or you can even afford going to the top restaurants and order almost everything you want with quite some ease. The Red Lobster; a seafood restaurant is now a possibility. A friend of mine told me that the lobster costed around $30 before taxes and gratuities. That gives one about $20 to cover the mentioned expenses which is more than enough.

A day to Wonderland which is an amusement park is also ensured with $50. The door price is obviously higher ($58) but if you can get someone to buy your ticket online ($40) and pay him or her later you would definitely save. Of course there are other amusement parks which cost much less such as Ontario Place, or CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) and at these two places, $50 is worth a family package.

The 20 CAD - $20

The 20 CAD - $20

The 20 dollar bill is the one I have in mind when someone says Canadian dollar to me. Why? because of its colour. Of all bank notes I do not know why I always picture green to be the ideal colour for money. Perhaps it is because it was depicted as green in almost all cartoons I watched during my childhood.

First thing one would probably notice is the person representation. It is no one else but Queen Elizabeth II as if we have not seen her lately on all the coins. Nevertheless $20 is the minimum amount you can withdraw from an automatic banking machine which at times can be so troublesome. Thus because of that, the 20 dollar bill is widely considered to be the most common Canadian banknote.

In terms of purchasing power, $20 can get you almost everything you want to eat on campus. On rare occasions, one full meal would exceed $20 and that exception is at the Schulich Executive Dining which is probably the most expensive restaurant on campus. Other food places might not even exceed the $15 mark.

Outside campus premises, we are moving to the average-priced restaurants. Steaks can even be obtained but without the drinks and other add-on and these are at those okay-ish restaurants. The only food costing $20 or less that one could get at top notch restaurants would be pasta and I never understand why so much for something one could make at home. $20 is surely a decent amount, there are still some "unobtainable" in what you can get such as lobsters, giant shrimps.

Finally for $20 I would suggest two places that can be value for money: The first one being an All You Can Eat Barbecue Grill at the Korean Grill and the second is Frankie Tomatoes which is your stereotypical average Italian buffet. $20 would include the food, the taxes and the gratuities for both restaurants.

The 10 CAD - $10

The 10 CAD - $10

Next in the list is the 10 dollar bill. Again as I mentioned earlier the size does not change so there is no need to talk about that except for the colour person and picture on the banknote's sides who is represented by Sir John Macdonald. Its colour is no other than purple or some sort of  violet.

Sir John Macdonald was a great figure in Canadian history as we were told in our management and Canadian business history class. He was the first Canadian prime minister and it was not surprising that the topic which was discussed alongside him was the Canadian dollar. The reason behind this is because it was around this period that the Canadian dollar was being introduced.

The $10 bill is a bank note which is very interesting. It is the ideal amount you need to get almost every full meal combo on campus excluding all the extras. Still with three combo meals this amount can triple to $30 and even more at times. It is not restricted to campus food but almost every fast-food chains in the city. With $10 one can start going to a cheap to average priced restaurants for food including tips and taxes. The foods include congee with fried bread (Chinese) and Phở (Vietnamese). It can get you to a movie at cheap theatres.