| Canada | |
| Value | 0.01 CAD |
|---|---|
| Mass | 2.35 g |
| Diameter | 19.05 mm |
| Thickness | 1.45 mm |
| Edge | smooth |
| Composition | 94% steel, 1.5% Ni, 4.5% Cu plating |
| Years of minting | 1858–present |
| Catalog number | CC 20 |
| Obverse | |
| Design | Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada |
| Designer | Susanna Blunt |
| Design date | 2003 |
| Reverse | |
| Design | Maple leaf branch |
| Designer | G.E. Kruger Gray |
| Design date | 1937 |
In Canada, a penny is a coin worth one cent or ⅟100 of a dollar. According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the official national term of the coin is the "one-cent piece", but in practice the term penny or cent is universal. Originally, "penny" referred to a two-cent coin. When the two-cent coin was discontinued, penny took over as the new one-cent coin's name. Penny was likely readily adopted because the previous coinage in Canada (up to 1858) was the British monetary system, where Canada used British pounds, shillings, and pence as coinage alongside U.S. decimal coins and Spanish milled dollars.
In Canadian French, the penny is called a cent, which is spelled the same way as the French word for "hundred." Slang terms include cenne, cenne noire or sou noir (black penny) although common Quebec French usage is sou.
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Like all Canadian coins, the obverse depicts the reigning Canadian monarch at the time of issue. The current obverse depicts Queen Elizabeth II; her likeness has seen three design updates in the last century, the first occurring in 1965, a 1990 update to the design of Dora de Pedery-Hunt, and the 2003 update designed by Susanna Blunt.[1] A special reverse side, depicting a rock dove, was issued in 1967 as part of a Centennial commemoration.[2] It was designed by the Canadian artist Alex Colville.
The current coin has a round, smooth edge, and this has been the case for most of its history; however, from 1982 to 1996, the coin was twelve-sided. This was done to help the visually impaired identify the coin.[3]
There have been repeated talks about getting rid of the penny as it is estimated that it costs the Royal Canadian Mint 1.8¢ to produce a 1¢ coin,[4] even though the Royal Canadian Mint claims it costs only 0.8¢ to produce a penny. [5] The Canadian penny costs at least $130 million annually to keep in circulation, estimates a financial institution (the Desjardins Group) that called for an end to the penny.[5] The Mint refuses to release the cost, citing competition, despite having a monopoly.[6] According to a 2007 survey, only 37 percent of Canadians use pennies, but the government continues to produce about 816 million pennies per year, equal to 25 pennies per Canadian.[5]
On March 31, 2008, NDP MP Pat Martin introduced a private member's bill that would eliminate the penny from circulation.[7] The Swedish rounding system is the suggested replacement for cash transactions.[8] In mid-2010 the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance began a study on the future of the one-cent coin.[9]
On December 14, 2010, The Senate finance committee recommended[10] the penny be removed from circulation, arguing that a century of inflation has eroded the value and usefulness of the one-cent piece. Presently it costs more to produce each penny (1.5¢) than it is worth monetarily. The Royal Canadian Mint has been forced to produce more such coins because pennies disappear from circulation as Canadians hoard these coins, or just cannot be bothered to use them.
The first Canadian cents were struck in 1858 and had a diameter of 25.4 mm (1 inch) and a weight of 4.54 grams (1/100 of a pound). These cents were originally issued to bring some kind of order to the Canadian monetary system, which, until 1858, relied on British coinage, bank and commercial tokens (francophones calling them sous, a slang term that survives), U.S. currency and Spanish milled dollars. The coin's specifications were chosen with the intention of the coins also being useful as measuring tools. However, their light weight compared to the bank and merchant halfpenny tokens readily available at the time was a serious hindrance to their acceptance by the public. Some of the coins were even sold at a 20% discount, and were inherited by the Dominion government in 1867. Fresh production of new cents (with the weight increased to 5.67 grams) was not required until 1876.[11] The large cents of 1858-1920 were significantly larger than modern one cent coins, and have a diameter that is a little larger than the modern 25¢ piece (its diameter being 23.58 mm). After Confederation, these coins were struck on the planchet of the British halfpenny and were roughly the same value. Pennies were issued only sporadically in the third quarter of the 19th century. They were used in the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia upon Confederation in 1867. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had issued their own coinage prior to that date, with British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland continuing to issue "pennies" until they joined Confederation. The high price of copper forced a reduction to the current size in 1920.
| Years | Mass | Diameter/Shape | Composition[12] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–present * | 2.35 g | 19.05 mm, round | 94% steel, 1.5% nickel, 4.5% copper plated zinc |
| 1997–1999 * | 2.25 g | 19.05 mm, round | 98.4% zinc, 1.6% copper plating |
| 1982–1996 | 2.5 g | 19.1 mm, 12-sided | 98% copper, 1.75% tin, 0.25% zinc |
| 1980–1981 | 2.8 g | 19.0 mm, round | 98% copper, 1.75% tin, 0.25% zinc |
| 1978–1979 | 3.24 g | 19.05 mm, round | 98% copper, 1.75% tin, 0.25% zinc |
| 1942–1977 | 3.24 g | 19.05 mm, round | 98% copper, 0.5% tin, 1.5% zinc |
| 1920–1941 | 3.24 g | 19.05 mm, round | 95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc |
| 1876–1920 | 5.67 g | 25.4 mm, round | 95.5% copper, 3% tin, 1.5% zinc |
| 1858–1859 | 4.54 g | 25.4 mm, round | 95% copper, 4% tin, 1% zinc |
From May 2006 to October 2008, all circulation Canadian pennies from 1942 to 1996 had an intrinsic value of over $0.02 CAD based on the increasing spot price of copper in the commodity markets. The break-even price for a 2.8 g solid copper penny is $1.61 USD/lb, with prices during this period reaching as high as $4 USD/lb.[13]
| Year | Theme | Artist | Mintage | Special notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Canadian Centennial | Alex Colville | 345,140,645 | Features a rock dove in flight. |
| Year | Theme | Mintage | Issue price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | First day cover | 1,799 | $14.95 |
| 2006 | With new mint mark | 5,000 | $29.95 |
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