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Canadian Mint Opening Delayed by Politics
 | By Doug Andrews, World Coin News
April 21, 2008 |
Celebration of the centennial of the Royal Canadian Mint in the summer of 2008 may cause numismatists to reflect on the years of diplomatic wrangling and political infighting that surrounded its establishment. Now one of the most successful and modern mints in the world, its founding in 1908 was the culmination of nearly two decades of argument among Canadian parliamentarians, and negotiations between officials in Canada and the United Kingdom.
As early as 1890 members of the Canadian Senate from British Columbia began lobbying the Conservative and later, the Liberal, governments in Ottawa for opening a mint in Vancouver. Gold recently had been discovered in the nearby Fraser River Valley, and a tiny group of politicians led by Senator Thomas McInnes tried to persuade the cabinet to fund construction of a mint to assay and refine gold, produce ingots and strike gold into coins. In March, McInnes boldly introduced the following motion to the Senate, "Resolved as to the opinion of this House that it is both desirable and expedient that the government should immediately pass a coinage act and establish a mint."
Gold miners and speculators in British Columbia saw the opening of a mint as an opportunity to increase their profits by reducing the costs of exporting gold to the United States for refining. However, the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, opposed the measure championed by McInnes, a Liberal, and it went down to defeat. Macdonald, then in declining health, had focused this agenda on protectionism rather than foreign trade, and a mint to increase profits from exportation of gold did not fit into his plans.
Yet McInnes's persistent efforts to build a mint on Canadian soil did not falter. He reintroduced similar motions several more times after 1891. Hope for establishment of a mint was boosted with the election of a new Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, in 1896. Laurier sought to expand exports to other members of the British Empire and to pursue "reciprocity" with the United States, better known in a 21st century context as "free trade."
Still there was powerful opposition to opening a Canadian mint, coming from within the government and from the banks, which both gained handsomely by issuing their own notes. An expansion in the use of coins could cripple their lucrative profits. The prospects for a mint in the Dominion improved in August 1896 with discovery of a huge gold strike on the Klondike River in the Canadian Yukon near Dawson Creek. Overnight the Canadian economy was invigorated by the vast wealth found in the far north, and once again the proponents of a mint to produce gold coins in Canada were mobilized.
Laurier, a charismatic leader known for his fiery oratory, evoked a burst of patriotic fervor. Despite slow progress in the decade since 1890, now Laurier's quest for a mint became an expression of Canadian nationalism. His finance minister, William Fielding, opened discussions with the British to solicit their views on establishment of a mint in Canada, which would eliminate the need for the Royal Mint in London to supply most of her coinage. The initial response from the British was decidedly cool. One of their objections was based on the premise that they would be funding operation of a branch mint on foreign soil. Fielding successfully negotiated a compromise whereby the Canadian government would supply a site in Ottawa, and authorize the expenditure of $75,000 per year to fund its annual operating expenses.
Planning for the facility was to be a joint undertaking of both governments, while the expertise and equipment for the Ottawa Branch of the Royal Mint would come primarily from the United Kingdom. Enabling legislation was introduced in the Canadian House of Commons on May 21, 1901. It was approved, and quickly signed into law by the Governor General. The entire process including the awarding of contracts dragged on until the summer of 1905, when construction of the building that was to eventually house a refinery, rolling mills, presses, and other minting equipment began.
As the project finally got off the ground, a stunning lapse in communication between London and Fielding resulted in the building construction proceeding without necessary lead time for manufacturing and shipping the equipment essential for minting coinage. The mint opening was pushed back further by this delay. Finally, on Jan. 2, 1908, the Ottawa branch mint was officially opened in a ceremony in which the first coin - a 50 cent piece in .925 fine silver was struck by Governor General Earl Grey. His wife, the Countess of Grey, struck the first one cent coin.
All coinage in the first year of minting in Canada bore the portrait of King Edward the Seventh. Specimen sets also were released in 1908. Reportedly, 1,000 of these sets were produced, each in either a maroon or red leather case containing a one cent piece in bronze, and five, 10, 25 and 50 cent coins struck in silver. Later that year, the first gold sovereigns were minted, bearing their characteristic "C" mintmark. From the original efforts to establish a mint in Canada in 1890, the project had taken fully 18 years to reach fruition. By comparison, construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway stretching from coast to coast across Canada had been completed in only four.
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