On 30 Apr 1976 the long fought-over Winnipeg branch of the Royal Canadian Mint was officially opened by the Hon. Jean-Pierre Goyer, PC MP, Minister of Supply and Services, Canada.
Wikipedia has this brief biography of Jean-Pierre Goyer, PC, QC: (
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Goyer, (January 17, 1932 – May 24, 2011) was a lawyer and Canadian Cabinet minister. . . .first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal Party of Canada Member of Parliament for Dollard in the 1965 election. He was re-elected in the 1968 election, and in 1970, was appointed to the Cabinet as Solicitor General of Canada by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In this position, he and oversaw the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the aftermath of the FLQ Crisis.
Following the 1972 election, he became Minister of Supply and Services.
Goyer left Cabinet in November 1978 and announced that he would not run in the 1979 election. He returned to the practice of law in Montreal." [end]
More about the Winnipeg branch of the Royal Mint can be found here: (
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"Winnipeg facility (of the Royal Canadian Mint)
The Winnipeg Royal Canadian Mint
In November 1960 the Master of the Mint, N.A. Parker, advised the Minister of Finance that there was a need for a new facility. Capacity had already been reached in Ottawa. . . . It was finally recognized that the Mint required an additional facility.
. . . .
In February 1970, Supply and Services Minister James Richardson, the Minister responsible for the Mint, proposed the possibility of a new facility in Winnipeg.
This proposal was cause for debate because it was legally stipulated that the Mint was unlike any other government operation and that money should be produced in Canada’s capital region. Another point of tension was that the Cabinet Minister was from Winnipeg. . . . Eventually, it was agreed upon in December 1971 that the Mint would build a facility in Winnipeg. The land was purchased in 1972 and construction began at the end of the year.
The new facility was completely different in appearance from the facility in Ottawa. Architect Étienne Gaboury designed a striking triangular building that rises up dramatically from the surrounding prairie. . . . The Mint facility in Winnipeg was officially opened in 1976. The Winnipeg branch of the Royal Canadian Mint allowed the Ottawa facility to concentrate solely on collector coins while Winnipeg would produce the entire supply of circulation and foreign coins.
The Winnipeg facility is also responsible for producing the circulation currency of other nations. . . . " [end]
Today the Winnipeg Royal Canadian Mint makes coins for over 120 client countries -- including the United States!
The bilingual building inauguration plaque reads as follows:
[EN]
WINNIPEG MINT
Branch of the
Royal Canadian Mint
Inaugurated by the
Honourable Jean-Pierre Goyer, PC, MP
Minister of Supply and
Services Canada
April 30 1976
[FR]
MONNAIE DE WINNIPEG
Succursale de la
Monnaie royale canadienne
Inauguree par
L’Honourable Jean-Pierre Goyer, CP, MP
Ministre des Approvisionnements
Et Services Canada
Le 30 de Avril 1976" [end]