The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The penny has circulated in this country for 150 years, but this humblest of coins has come to outlive its usefulness. Its purchasing power has eroded so far that there is almost nothing that can be obtained for just one cent. One study shows that a nickel today buys about what a penny did in 1972. So there seems little point in retaining the lowly copper, especially since it cost the mint $130 million to produce 1.2 billion pennies last year. A little over a year ago, we wrote in spirited defence of CanadaÕs one-cent piece. Our main motivation was nostalgia, but we also expressed concern that prices could rise without this coin, if merchants succumb to the temptation of Òrounding upÓ their charges to the nearest nickel. Since then, we have been swayed by New Democrat MP Pat MartinÕs argument that this coin has become a costly nuisance, often stuffed into drawers and jars and forgotten. Therefore, we support MartinÕs private memberÕs bill to scrap the one-cent piece, which he introduced last week. While there may be some loss to consumers if merchants round their prices upward, this would likely be minimal. It must be kept in mind that rounding would apply to a purchaserÕs final bill. For example, rounding up a $100.03 grocery charge would add just two cents to the total cost of everything purchased Ð not two cents to the cost of each item. Consumers would also save when prices were rounded down. Australia and New Zealand have successfully gotten rid of their one-cent coins. It is time for Canada, too, to declare itself penniless.
