madfranks
21st July 2010, 09:08 AM
Link Here (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/836527--canada-ponders-pulling-the-plug-on-the-penny?bn=1)
Snippet from article...
OTTAWA – Is Canada facing a penniless future?
While Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has openly mused about the end of the one-cent coin, documents reveal that officials from his department have been in discussions with the Royal Canadian Mint to prepare for the day when the penny finally drops.
They’ve talked to officials in both Australia and New Zealand — two countries that have axed the one-cent coins — to learn about their experience in a penny-free society.
They considered how the end of the penny would affect cash purchases.
And they’ve mused about plans to convince Canadians to part with the stock of 30 billion pennies produced since 1908, many of which are rattling around bedroom drawers, piggy banks, kitchen jars — and weighing down pockets and purses.
One briefing note prepared by the mint in December was done “to provide information to the government to assist them in their deliberations on the future of the one-cent coin.â€
It says Ottawa could withdraw the penny from circulation but still allow them to be accepted for commerce. Or it could end production of the penny and “demonetize†the coin on a specific date, meaning they could no longer be used to pay for purchases.
Pity the penny. When first produced at the Ottawa Mint in 1908 (earlier production was done in England), you could buy a paper for two cents and a loaf of bread for five cents. But since then, it has lost 95 per cent of its purchasing power, Pierre Duguay, the deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, told a Senate committee in May.
More at link...
Snippet from article...
OTTAWA – Is Canada facing a penniless future?
While Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has openly mused about the end of the one-cent coin, documents reveal that officials from his department have been in discussions with the Royal Canadian Mint to prepare for the day when the penny finally drops.
They’ve talked to officials in both Australia and New Zealand — two countries that have axed the one-cent coins — to learn about their experience in a penny-free society.
They considered how the end of the penny would affect cash purchases.
And they’ve mused about plans to convince Canadians to part with the stock of 30 billion pennies produced since 1908, many of which are rattling around bedroom drawers, piggy banks, kitchen jars — and weighing down pockets and purses.
One briefing note prepared by the mint in December was done “to provide information to the government to assist them in their deliberations on the future of the one-cent coin.â€
It says Ottawa could withdraw the penny from circulation but still allow them to be accepted for commerce. Or it could end production of the penny and “demonetize†the coin on a specific date, meaning they could no longer be used to pay for purchases.
Pity the penny. When first produced at the Ottawa Mint in 1908 (earlier production was done in England), you could buy a paper for two cents and a loaf of bread for five cents. But since then, it has lost 95 per cent of its purchasing power, Pierre Duguay, the deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, told a Senate committee in May.
More at link...