Here is the Canadian link I alluded to a bit scary really maybe that is why they call the currency the loonie.
Reuters UPDATE - Canadian gold reserves dwindling fast Thursday September 4, 9:41 am ET
(Recasts throughout, all figures in U.S. dollars) OTTAWA, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Canadian reserves of gold, once a safe-haven store of value, have fallen to 1 percent of the level Ottawa held when it decided to start selling off its bullion in 1980, according to figures released on Thursday.
The sale of 135,700 ounces of gold last month, announced by the Finance Department, means gold reserves fell to about 200,000 ounces on Aug. 31 from 21 million ounces in 1980.
Gold reserves were worth some $65 million at the end of August -- a tiny fraction of the $35.29 billion in overall Canadian foreign reserves.
Ottawa has been gradually selling off its reserves of gold and replacing them with interest-bearing instruments like U.S. Treasury bills.
Government data shows Canadian gold reserves stood at about 800,000 ounces 12 months ago, while two years ago they totaled 1.1 million ounces.
At that pace of sales, the central bank could sell the last of the precious metal by year's end, although the Finance Department declined to comment on the government's future gold sale plans.
Canada first pegged its currency to gold from 1854 through to 1914 and again from 1926 to 1931, a Bank of Canada spokeswoman said.
