King Charles III Is Coming to the $20
The new note will feature a portrait of King Charles III on the front, continuing Canada's tradition of placing the reigning monarch on the $20 denomination.
That means the new design will eventually circulate alongside the familiar $20 featuring Queen Elizabeth II.
But don't start digging through your wallet thinking the old bills are about to expire.
They aren't.
The Bank of Canada says existing $20 notes featuring Queen Elizabeth II will continue to circulate.
Your $20 Is Turning Sideways — Sort Of
One of the biggest changes won't be the colour or even the portrait.
It'll be the direction you hold it.
The new $20 will use a vertical format, following the approach already used for Canada's current $10 bank note.
It will remain a polymer bill and keep the predominantly green colour Canadians immediately associate with a twenty.
So it should still look unmistakably Canadian — just noticeably different.
Vimy Isn't Going Anywhere
While the front gets a new monarch, an important piece of the current note is staying.
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial will remain on the reverse.
Located in France, the memorial commemorates Canadians who served during the First World War and honours those who died in France with no known grave.
Keeping Vimy provides a clear connection between the existing $20 and its replacement.
There's More Happening Than a New Portrait
Some of the most interesting changes may be difficult to appreciate in a photograph.
The Bank of Canada has been developing enhanced security features intended to make the new bill easy for people to authenticate and difficult for counterfeiters to reproduce.
Governor Tiff Macklem previously said the note would combine 3-D technology with features that appear to shift as the bill moves.
The full design should give Canadians a much better idea of how those elements actually work.
When Can You Actually Spend One?
Not today.
Today's event is the unveiling — not the launch into circulation.
The Bank expects the new $20 to begin circulating in early 2027.
That gives banks, retailers, cash-handling businesses and Canadians several months to become familiar with the new design before the bills begin showing up in everyday transactions.
Why Change the $20?
This isn't just another denomination.
The $20 is Canada's most widely circulating bank note, which means even relatively small design decisions can affect an enormous number of cash transactions.
Developing a replacement therefore involves much more than choosing a portrait and hitting “print.”
The Bank's process has involved research, design development, security work, testing and consultations, including engagement with experts and its Indigenous Advisory Circle.
The Big Reveal Comes Today
For now, we know the ingredients.
King Charles III.
A vertical layout.
Green polymer.
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
And a new generation of security technology.
What Canadians haven't seen yet is how all of those pieces come together.
The Bank of Canada is scheduled to unveil the finished design in Ottawa on September 3, with the reveal expected at approximately 1:20 p.m. Eastern Time.
And once that happens, we'll finally know what the next Canadian $20 bill will actually look like.
Image disclaimer: The image above is an illustration created for visual representation and does not depict the actual event