Last week on the radio I heard that the Bank of Canada is proposing to eliminate the penny. The economist being interviewed was in favour of the proposal because he said that Canadians no longer respect our one-cent coins. If someone these days were to offer us a penny for our thoughts we would think that person was an incredible penny pincher. Nobody bothers to pick up a penny anymore—the amount of luck it would bring wouldn't be worth the effort involved in retrieving it. And who wants to save a penny when all you’ll earn is another useless penny? The once pretty penny has passed its prime, and is no longer seen as having any value. So we toss pennies into jars or on the dashboard instead of using them as legal tender.
I am part of the minority who want to keep the penny in circulation, even though this costs Canadians about $130 million annually. If pennies have that much of an impact on society I think they deserve some recognition. Instead of a picture of the Queen or Sir John A. MacDonald, let's put a portrait of the penny on the $500 note that the “D-metric” model recommends introducing once the country’s average daily net pay reaches $100 (which is also the point at which the model recommends pennies be abolished). Besides, if we get rid of the penny the nickel will become our next object of contempt, and one of Ontario’s biggest landmarks will have to be renamed the Big Deal Nickel.
I am, however, all in favour of switching from notes to coins. When we did that with our $1 bill we got the loonie. Then came the $2 toonie. Next on the hit list (when Canada’s average daily net pay reaches $150) is the $5 bill. The interviewer asked the economist if the $5 coin would be called the foonie. I sincerely hope so, so that when counterfeiters go to work on it we’ll have the alluringly alliterative phony foonie.
A while back Rick Mercer proposed using an Air Miles credit card to pay off the national debt, then giving every Canadian a free ticket to fly somewhere. Maybe after our subsidized vacations we could collect the pennies we've tossed on the dashboard or into a jar and send them to the federal government. It can then toddle down to the credit card company, pockets full of pennies, to pay its bill. And if there are any pennies remaining it can treat itself to a beavertail on the way back to Parliament Hill.
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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8 comments:
I'm in favor of coin over paper any day. And you're right--if pennies go, then it'll be nickels we'll have to leave on the sidewalk.
First we lost our 1 and 2 cent coins, but gained $1 and $2 coins.
Then last year (or so) we lost the 5 cent coin.
Our lovely shiny silver ten cent shrunk to half its size and copper coloured. Its days are numbered.
I hate going to the US and being weighed down by dozens of pennies.
(I deleted my earlier comment because it included apostrophe abuse ... the shame ..)
Just Sunday, a dinner guest was discussing how it cost more to mint a penny than the penny was worth...you can't mint a penny for 1 cent!
I want to keep the penny in circulation for one reason: Pennies From Heaven. I used to think the idea of people finding pennies left by the spirits of lost loved ones was a cute fable . . . until it happened to me, over and over.
Mali, I've lived in the US my entire life, and I've never been weighed down by dozens of pennies. I must have discovered the secret of avoiding them--but I don't know what it is. :-)
If they replace our five dollar bill with a foonie coin we won't be able to "spock a five" anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV7pNVCgk1M
How come a decimal currency has pennies instead of cents? It was great in England when pennies turned into 'newps' and then 'pee'.
We too haven't had one and two cent coins for a long time and good riddance really, but still have five and ten cent coins, and no suggestion of losing them ( though we too tend to accumulate jars of them.....): is inflation really that high in the Soc. Dem Rep. of N.Z. , Mali? :)
And what's all this goonie loonie toonie business? You guys are so whimsical.
I hadn't heard the pennies from heaven idea: I had generally thought anything less than fifty cents not worth picking up / looking cheap for: as Frederick the Great put it so pithily:'Grasping at trifles gets one a reputation for insatiable greed'
Susan: I wish I had your knack!
Mrs S: According to our Finance Minister, inflation is higher in Aussie. However, we're all terribly jealous of the big tax cuts you've just received, so watch out ... we're all coming over!
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