During a news conference almost a year ago after tabling the government’s budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty referred to the penny as a “currency without any currrency” and the government was acting on “. . . what everyone agrees should have been done long ago.”

The original drop-dead date for the penny was the fall, but the date was pushed back when merchants complained that they couldn’t adjust to change while dealing with the Christmas shopping rush.

Creative commons image by miguelb