Flaherty presses button to send penny into history

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This article was published 04/05/2012 (5202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s last penny was struck this morning at the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg.

In a ceremonial blow to the penny killed in his latest budget, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty pressed the button that produced Canada’s last one-cent coin.

Mint workers, security, media and visitors applauded the historic moment at the facility on Lagimodiere Boulevard. No workers will lose their jobs as a result of the Canadian penny’s extinction. The Mint makes coins for half the countries in the world.

In Canada, the first penny was struck in Ottawa in 1908.

“The humble one-cent coin was the work horse of Canadian commerce,” said Flaherty. Now it’s seen as a nuisance that costs 1.6 cents to make.

“Over time, inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the penny,” said Flaherty before the last cent was struck. “The time has come.”

Flaherty and Winnipeg MP Shelley Glover, his Parliamentary Secretary, called on Canadians to gather their pennies and donate them to charity. Glover asked that they be donated to Habitat for Humanity.