News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Dutch Gold Leaves Ottawa
The Dutch central bank has moved 86 tonnes of gold from New York and Ottawa to London since March. They say they’ve done it in the interest of crisis preparedness, but it realistically indicates an erosion of trust. Before the move, Ottawa was holding just under a fifth (19.7%) of Dutch gold reserves. Now Ottawa and New York each hold 18.5 per cent. The accounting is tidy, but maybe the symbolism is a less neat.
The bank said a move to London makes the gold easier to trade “in a crisis.” Its governor, Olaf Sleijpen, said they intended to improve the tradability of their national reserves, not to pick a fight with North America. The total Dutch pile is 612.4 tonnes, so the shuffle is a meaningful one.
Read more: AP News / The Globe and Mail
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A photo from the old country:
King Gets the Twenty
The Bank of Canada is making a change to the $20 bill, placing King Charles III in the frame to give Canadian paper money its first portrait of the King. Coins made the switch in 2023. The central bank was expected to show the redesigned note in Ottawa on Thursday.
The current $20 still shows the visage of Queen Elizabeth II, so the most common bill in a Canuck wallet will soon get a small constitutional update.
No need to panic-hoard old twenties, of course, but the next time you open a drawer and find one, it may remind you of a time capsule from the Elizabeth years.
Read more: Canada's National Observer / The Globe and Mail