When Was the Loonie Introduced In Canada?

The loonie was introduced in Canada in the year 1987 amid some disagreement and dissension of the people in Canada who were not necessarily enthusiastic at the introduction of the loonie, the Canadian one-dollar coin.

Introduced in 1987, the loonie is gold in color and plated in bronze. Aside from the loon image on one side, it has an image of Queen Elizabeth the Second on the other side, and it’s larger than an American quarter by a small amount; it’s actually the almost exact size of the American Susan B. Anthony dollar.

The Canadian loonie is known by name by plenty of people… but not everyone knows much more about it or about when the loonie was introduced in Canada. Unfortunately, the story behind the name isn’t as interesting as you might assume: it’s based on the image of a loon on one side. Later strikings held different images, but the name loonie persisted, and is, in fact, owned by the Canadian mint.

Last Minute Redesign on the Loonie

Before the time when the loonie was introduced in Canada, some changes to the coin were made. An interesting fact about the coin is that it was originally meant to have a different design altogether. In fact, it was all laid out and ready to go, but during transport to the Royal Canadian Mint, the dies (the plates that were to stamp the coins) were lost by the delivery service. Nobody knows how. Nobody knows where they went. But if someone found them, needless to say, they’d be able to press their own money, so the loonie had to take on a different look.

Is the Loonie a Popular Form of Currency?

The loonie largely earned its name as a form of convenience; Canadian currency before the loonie operated on a paper dollar, and once the coin came into existence people felt the need to call it something other than a dollar (or a buck, common slang for a dollar) in order to distinguish the two.

Much like America’s adverse reaction to dollar coins, Canadians weren’t happy about the original switch to a dollar coin when the loonie was first introduced in Canada. They had enough change in their pockets as it was, and adding another inconvenient coin to the mix didn’t sound appealing.

It was done, nonetheless, based on the government’s estimation of how much money it would save; coins, unlike paper dollars, need replacement far less often, thus requiring less minting and less cost to keep dollars in circulation. Over time, Canadians warmed to the loonie, and despite the mixed feelings at the time when the loonie was introduced in Canada, today it’s a source of national pride.

Toonie: The Two-Tone, Two Dollar Coin

Since the loonie was first introduced in Canada, it has always been worth a dollar, but there’s a follow-up version to it - the two-dollar coin – called the toonie. Introduced in 1996, the two-tone coin’s name is a combination, of course, of “two” and “loonie.”