Originally Posted by nkedel

Ditto, and something I appreciate in places like the US and Thailand where the smallest bill is a relatively low value -- it's easier to pitch quarters and smaller coins without having to pick out the high-value ones first.

I haven't used Canadian currency as an adult, but the worst alternative I've hit is Australia -- nothing smaller than a AU$5 note, AND the AU$2 coin is both too small on its own merits AND smaller than the AU$1 coin. I'm probably overemphasizing its diminution in my memory when I think of it as "roughly the size of a US dime" (US$0.10 coin for non-US folks unfamiliar with our terminology) but certainly not by that much.