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From an article written by Dale Tudge and Don Schuetze for thetoque.com, the world leader in Canadian humour, parody and satire.
Canada’s new five-dollar coin features the world-famous Canadian actor William Shatner. The new 9.2-gramcoin shows an effigy of Shatner, star of film and television.
Shatner was chosen to be represented on the coin because of his status as a hero to Canadians, and especially the science fiction community, which makes up approx- imately 80% of the Canadian population.
The original concept for having (Bill) Shatner minted comes from the years that the Canadian $5 bill was altered using a blue ballpoint pen. The bill ostensibly shows Wilfrid Laurier, a former prime minister. A few clever marks transformed the staid former Member of Parliament into the character Spock from the original television series. Coincidence? Leonard Nimoy is not a Canadian, but his former captain is.