Yes it will. There are 200,000 of them in Canada. Who is going to foot the bill? The A.F.I. Automatic Vending Company, perhaps, which objected to the bill when it appeared before the Standing Committee on Government Operations?
The hon. member for Cochrane-Superior said earlier that all businesspeople supported this move. In a letter to the members of the committee, a representative of the vending machine industry said: "The government's cost savings is my expense". He is not in agreement. If you read the letter, you notice that the representative of the industry is opposed to the introduction of a $2 coin. Once again, he suggests that he will not only incur expenses, but also that he is aware that the bottom line is that consumers will end up paying the $60 million to $160 million that the vending machine industry will have to shell out. Ultimately, consumers will end up paying.
Consumers will have to pay. This is only the beginning. Imagine, every cash register in every store across the country will eventually have to be replaced to accommodate a $2 coin.
The hon. member for Cochrane-Superior and our colleague from Manitoba do not realize that. They do not see that. This is the down to earth stuff, but they are up there in the clouds, they hear no evil and see no evil but they listen to their minister because he said: You are going to vote for this bill, come hell or high water.
How many cash registers? In Canada, probably half a million. All stores have cash registers, every cornerstore and every IGA. They will all have to change eventually. First they will have to adjust to the changeover but eventually they will have to replace them.
The representative for this association, and this for the benefit of the hon. member for Cochrane-Superior, appeared before our committee to say no, we do not want the $2 coin because it will cost us a lot of money. I will have to buy another cash register which costs between $100 and $150. They do not come cheap.