This bill is from the 39th Parliament, 2nd session, which ended in September 2008.
Pat Martin NDP
Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)
Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of April 2, 2008
(This bill did not become law.)
This is from the published bill.
This enactment amends the Currency Act and the Royal Canadian Mint Act to provide that one cent coins will not be legal tender beginning on January 1 of the year immediately following the year in which the enactment is assented to, and will be called in following a proclamation by the Governor in Council.
All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.
Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-531s:
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
moved for leave to introduce Bill C-531, An Act to amend the Currency Act and the Royal Canadian Mint Act (abolition of the cent).
Mr. Speaker, let me clear. This is the abolition of the cent, not the abolition of the Senate.
This bill is based on the premise that the penny is of no commercial value. It does not circulate and it costs more to produce than it is worth. I guess there are some parallels to the Senate. There are approximately 20 billion pennies--
Currency ActRoutine Proceedings
The Speaker Peter Milliken
Order, please. I would remind the hon. member that he must not speak disrespectfully of the other place. It is a requirement of our Standing Orders, so he might want to restrain himself. The cent is one thing and he had better stick with that since that is the subject of the bill.
The hon. member for Winnipeg Centre has the floor.
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Speaker, that is right. This bill is about the abolition of the penny and I will keep it to that.
I am proud to introduce this bill. Many Canadians believe the penny is an expensive nuisance. They believe that we are spending $130 million a year to produce something that no one wants or needs. Therefore, this bill would phase it out of circulation. It would make it so that the penny would no longer be legal tender as of January 1, 2009 and it would introduce a rounding system whereby prices would be adjusted to the nearest nickel.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)