Editing Toonie (section)

==Launch==
Finance Minister [[Paul Martin]] announced the replacement of the $2 banknote with a coin in the [[1995 Canadian federal budget]] speech.<ref name="budget">{{cite news|title=It's a real toss-up but here's our 2-cents worth: Call the $2 coin an American dollar|last=Girard|first=Daniel|newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]|date=March 11, 1995}}</ref> The RCM spent {{currency|17400|CAD}} to canvass 2,000 Canadian households regarding which of the 10 theme options they preferred.<ref name="budget" />

Under the direction of [[Hieu C. Truong]], the RCM engineering division designed the two-dollar coin to be made from two different metals. The metals for the bimetallic coin would be lighter and thinner than those produced anywhere in the world. To join the two parts, the engineering division selected a bimechanical locking mechanism.<ref name="autogenerated177">Royal Canadian Mint: 100 Years of History, p.177, Published by Les Éditions Stromboli, 2008, St. Lambert, Québec, Canada, Project Co-ordinator: Francesco Bellomo, Project Manager for Royal Canadian Mint: Susan Aubry, Legal Deposit: Library and Archives Canada, {{ISBN|2-921800-26-8}}</ref> By the end of 1996, the Winnipeg facility had struck 375 million of these coins.<ref>The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins, 61st Edition, p.139, edited by W.K. Cross, The Charlton Press, Toronto, Ontario, {{ISBN|0-88968-315-8}}</ref> The coin was officially launched at [[Bens De Luxe Delicatessen & Restaurant|Ben's Deli]] in Montreal on February 19, 1996.<ref name="autogenerated177"/>

The weight of the coin was originally specified as {{convert|112.64|gr|lk=in}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/canada-gazette/093/001060-119.01-e.php?document_id_nbr=11239&image_id_nbr=677412&f=p |title=Canada Gazette, 42-43-44 ELIZABETH II, Chapter 26, p. 614}}</ref>

The community of [[Campbellford, Ontario]], home to the coin's designer, constructed an {{convert|8|m|ft|adj=mid|-tall}} toonie [[monument]],<ref>[http://janroncommunications.com/ArchivedNews/PressRelease/pr-canada-two-dollar.html "Canada's two-dollar coin and its polar bear turn 10 this year"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105011819/http://janroncommunications.com/ArchivedNews/PressRelease/pr-canada-two-dollar.html |date=November 5, 2010 }}. [[CNW Telbec]], August 28, 2006.</ref> similar to the "Big Loonie" in [[Echo Bay, Ontario|Echo Bay]] and the [[Big Nickel]] in [[Greater Sudbury|Sudbury]].

Unlike the [[loonie]] before it, the toonie and the $2 bill were not produced concurrently with each other, as the $2 bill was withdrawn from circulation on February 16, 1996, three days prior to the toonie's introduction.<ref>{{cite web |title=About legal tender |website=Bank of Canada |url=https://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/about-legal-tender/ |access-date=November 27, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Whatever Happened To...?: Catching Up with Canadian Icons |last1=Kearney |first1=Mark |last2=Ray |first2=Randy |isbn=9781550026542 |date=September 30, 2006 |page=245 |publisher=Dundurn |quote=The $2 note ceased being issued on February 16, 1996.}}</ref>

[[File:Giant Toonie Monument Obverse Side.jpg|thumb|The obverse side of the Giant Toonie Monument in Campbellford, Ontario]]