Coming Soon: New Loonies and Toonies

Look out for new, nickel-free coins in March or April.

The Royal Canadian Mint will be rolling out brand new loonies and toonies this spring, replacing the current nickel-based coins with multi-ply steel money. By eliminating nickel, which has seen massive fluctuations in price, the new coins can be produced for roughly 5 cents, down from a current cost of 30 cents per coin. Cabinet approved the change late last month after the federal government said the change would save tax payers roughly $16 million annually. The new coins will also be lighter, thereby “reducing the carbon footprint of delivering coins to the Canadian public,” and harder to counterfeit too. The change is expected to cost about $40 million in vending machine recalibration.