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Canada’s gold reserves peaked in 1965, when it held as much as $1,150,000,000 in bullion and coins. In 1980, the government began selling its gold “at a gradual and controlled pace” to enhance returns, with the proceeds invested in interest-bearing foreign currency assets, according to the finance department website.

A department spokesman says the government has a long-standing policy of diversifying its portfolio by selling physical commodities like gold in order to invest instead in assets that are more easily traded.

Former senior Finance Department bureaucrat Don Drummond says he doesn’t think it makes any sense for Canada to hold any gold because it hasn’t delivered a good rate of return over time and it costs money to store it.

Drummond says that hundreds of years ago gold symbolized the wealth of a country.

Canada has been gradually selling from its gold stash for decades and, in recent years, the government has increased its holdings of U.S. and British currencies.

The last bullion was sold by December 2003. The remaining high quality coins were sold off by January 2014, Barnabe said.

All that remained were “lower-quality King George V $5 and $10 gold coins dated 1912, 1913 or 1914, which contained imperfections from handling or environmental conditions,” Barnabe said. They were melted off into gold bullion and are being sold off “at market prices.”

In February, the U.S. held about 8,133 tonnes of gold, which made up 72 per cent of its reserves, according to the World Gold Council.

The council also said Germany had 3,381 tonnes for 66 per cent of its reserves last month, while Italy and France each held more than 2,400 tonnes — over 60 per cent of their respective reserves.

With files from Canadian Press

Bloomberg.com