Canada Gets Rid of the Penny (Huzzah!)

How Canada will get rid of the penny & why they're better off without it.
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Here's my previous video on pennies http://youtu.be/y5UT04p5f7U & also John's rant on the topic: http://youtu.be/77C47XYm_3c Help me make videos faster: http://blog.cgpgrey.com/work-in-progr...

Canadian MP Pat Martin (http://patmartin.ndp.ca/) said it best: "There's 30 billion pennies in circulation and every year they were minting a billion more. It was just a no-brainer, slam dunk, that it's a place where we could save some money. They cost more to produce than they are worth, nobody likes them, they have no commercial value."

You can read the details about Canada's plan to withdraw the Penny from circulation here: http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/themes/t...

If you're a super geek there is an interesting report about the inefficiencies in the economy caused by the Canadian penny here: http://www.desjardins.com/en/a_propos... An interesting bit is the following:

"In truth, the 'artificial' demand for small-denomination coins is rising primarily because merchants and financial institutions have to constantly add new coins to the retail distribution system due to a shortage caused not by commercial or economic factors but rather by the fact that consumers do not put their small-denomination coins back into circulation. The hoarded coins do not circulate and are not used for any productive purposes. Moreover, most people cannot be bothered to take the time to count, roll and deposit these coins so that financial institutions can put them back into circulation, no doubt because over the years, the Canadian standard of living has continued to rise, eroding the purchasing power of these coins. If nothing changes, this situation will only be exacerbated in the coming years and decades."

I wanted to have a hidden link on 'Vancouver' in the beginning to this video: http://vimeo.com/7764570 but YouTube won't allow off-site links. Go check it out.

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French translation by: https://twitter.com/#!/RaphaelCabon

German translation by: https://twitter.com/#!/Chris_Wachtler

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• Category

  News & Politics

[ikentytes]

Why hate the CBC? Because its not sensationalistic and very unbiased?

[Amtoj Uppal]

Canada isn't ruled by the UK... We got independent through deals and diplomacy, not war. I'm glad you like our country though!

[IanTheEnchanter]

Canada is 100% independent, having earned it in 1867, with the union of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI. It is simply a member of the British commonwealth.

[IanTheEnchanter]

It makes a lot of others not though.

[maridonohoe]

mmmm timbits

[RunEnabled]

Not unbiased. Less biased than what you might see on like Fox news. The CBC are anti Conservative.

[Amtoj Uppal]

What do you mean wrong? Canada is independent! I don't see why everyone sees the Queen as a tyrant, she has almost no power over Canada. She doesn't have any in her own country either! Please people, look up the history of my country!

[Xanrry]

Technically true but, while we aren't controlled by the UK, we do share a Queen (who has as little or less real power in Canada as the UK).

[Ross Marks]

wrong

[mugy7]

Dominion.

[godlordy]

So Canada is a republic?

[Amtoj Uppal]

I kind of read it each day. I am a Canadian. We are not ruled by the Queen, but Britain did give us full rights pretty late...