The Nickel stands tall above the dead Canadian penny. Although the last penny was minted in May of 2012, today (Feb 4th, 2013) marks the end of the 1 cent copper coins circulation in Canada. The Royal Canadian Mint is urging retailers to round up or down to the nearest 5 cent value. That’s a good thing in my opinion…I’d rather not go shopping and end up walking around with 2 pounds of metal in my pocket if I don’t have to. There are some people concerned about the cost to the average Canadian as most speculate that retailers will always round up instead of down. Personally, I don’t think that I will even notice the difference day-to-day.
The CBC has an obituary for the deceased coin. Read it here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/01/31/f-penny-obit.html
The Royal Canadian Mint has guidelines on the plan here:
http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/eliminating-the-penny-6900002
Read more about the Canadian penny on Wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(Canadian_coin)