By Jack Branswell, CanWest News Service

OTTAWA — It took Canadians a while to get used to having loonies and toonies weighing down pockets and purses, but now they might have to get used to a $5 coin in the not-too-distant future.

In documents obtained by CanWest News Service, the federal government has studied the introduction of a new $5 coin to replace the bill. The Bank of Canada prepared an “optimal denomination structure” report in 2005 and, as part of it, used two theoretical financial models to analyze our coin and bank note system.

One model, called the D-metric, concluded that the elimination of the penny was warranted and recommended the introduction of a $5 coin and a $200 bill some time between 2005 and 2021. Another model, called Boeschoten, concluded that a $5 coin would be needed between 2009 and 2020, “given the price level and other factors would be consistent with the historical shift from notes to coins at other denominations.” Read Full Story