A New Democrat MP introduced a private member's bill Wednesday that would, if adopted, bring an end to the presence of the lowly penny in the pockets and purses of Canadians.    

"Most Canadians believe the penny is an expensive nuisance," Pat Martin told a news conference. 

"Making cents in fact makes no sense at all. The penny is of no commercial value; it does not circulate and it costs more to produce than it's actually worth," he said.

The Royal Canadian Mint says the metal that goes into a penny costs less than one cent per coin. But it won't divulge how much it actually costs to make a penny for competitive reasons. Martin says a penny costs closer to four cents to make once costs of distributing them are factored in. Last year, Desjardins Financial estimated that the mint could save $130-million a year by scrapping the penny.

Martin's bill would require retailers on cash transactions to round final totals up or down to the nearest five- or 10-cent mark. No rounding would be necessary for debit or credit transactions.

But Martin's two-cents worth may not amount to much. Most private member's bills don't get passed and the Harper government is not planning any changes to the range of Canada's coinage.

A mint-sponsored survey last year found that Canadians were divided on the issue of the penny's future, with 42 per cent in favour of its removal and 33 per cent against. But among small retailers, the "scrap-the-penny" side won by a 3-to-1 margin.

When asked about Martin's ban-the-penny bill, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said he supports getting rid of the coin.

"A penny ain't what it used to be," he said Wednesday, adding that people don't like getting them in change.

The Royal Canadian Mint makes more than a billion pennies a year. More than 20 billion are in circulation. Before 1998, Canadian pennies were made of copper. But when copper prices began to soar, the mint began making pennies out of cheaper steel and zinc, with just a coating of copper. 

New Zealand and Australia have both abolished their one-cent coins in recent years.