THE 1962 CANADIAN DIEFENDOLLARS

My article recounts the political and economic circumstances in which the “Diefendollar” became a campaign prop during the Canadian elections of 1962. A speculative attack on the Canadian dollar occurred during the election fight between the ruling Progressive Conservatives under John Diefenbaker and the Liberals under Lester Pearson.

Although pressure on the Canadian dollar was long in building, Diefenbaker and the Conservatives took the blame for the result, which was a 7.5 cent devaluation to 92.5 cents U.S. (hence the ‘detachable' feature of the note). The Conservatives suffered considerable losses in the election, and left power the following year.

Two of the images are “Diefendollar” varieties, and the third is a rather less imaginative pro-Diefenbaker riposte. Although the “loonie” has had a floating exchange rate since 1970, its value against the U.S. dollar has been a recurrent theme of Canada's politics, and political scrip a staple of its elections.

By the way, that 1962 idea of a detacheable segment of the note subsequently became a sort of "meme" of political propaganda currency. I've come across other examples, most recently from Australia.

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web