A. The Canadian one dollar coin, commonly called, "The Loonie", is a gold-coloured one-dollar coin introduced in 1987. It bears images of a common loon, a bird which is common and well known in Canada, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. It is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint at its facility in Winnipeg. The coin's outline is an 11-sided curve of constant width. Its diameter of 26.5 mm and its 11-sidedness matched that of the already-circulating, Susan B. Anthony Dollar,in the United States, and its thickness of 1.95 mm was a close match to the latter's 2.0 mm. Its gold colour differed from the silver-coloured Anthony dollar; however, the succeeding Sacagawea and Presidential dollars matched the loonie's color.
B. Canada first minted a silver dollar coin in 1935 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of George V's reign as king. The "Voyageur Dollar", so named because it featured an Indian and a French voyageur paddling a canoe on the reverse, was minted in silver until 1967, after which it was composed primarily of nickel. The coins did not see wide circulation, mainly due to their size and weight; the nickel version weighed 15.6 grams (0.55 oz) and was 32.1 millimetres (1.26 in) in diameter and was itself smaller than the silver version. By 1982, the Royal Canadian Mint had begun work on a new composition for the dollar coin that it hoped would lead to increased circulation.
C. At the same time, vending machine operators and transit systems were lobbying the Government of Canada to replace the dollar banknotes with wider circulating coins. A "Commons Committee" recommended in 1985 that the dollar bill be eliminated despite a lack of evidence that Canadians would support the move. The government argued that it would save between $175 and $250 million over 20 years by switching from bills that had a lifespan of less than a year to coins that would last two decades. The government announced on March 25, 1986, that the new dollar coin would be launched the following year as a replacement for the dollar bill, which would be phased out.
D. It was expected to cost $31.8 million to produce the first 300 million coins, but through seigniorage (the difference between the cost of production and the coin's value), expected to make up to $40 million a year on the coins. From the proceeds, a total of $60 million over five years was dedicated toward funding the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Fearing the possibility of counterfeiting, the government approved a new design for the reverse, replacing the voyageur with a Robert-Ralph Carmichael design of a common loon floating in water. The coin was immediately nicknamed "The Loonie" across English Canada, and became known as a "huard", French for "loon", in Quebec. The Loonie entered circulation on June 30, 1987, as 40 million coins were introduced into major cities across the country.
