Iceland's Canadian Dollar?

From Yahoo:
"Canadian ambassador stirs currency debate in Iceland"

Canada's ambassador to Iceland stirred up controversy over the future of the North Atlantic island's currency at the weekend, saying the nation of 320,000 would be welcome to start talks on adopting the Canadian dollar. After Iceland's financial collapse in 2008, there has been much political discussion over whether to stick with the krona or adopt another currency to help bring stability to the economy.

Having already begun talks on joining the European Union, the country is widely expected to adopt the euro, although opposition to EU accession is growing. Ambassador Alan Bones told Icelandic national broadcaster RUV on Friday that the Canadian government was willing to hold talks with Iceland on whether to adopt the loonie if Icelanders wanted to. Iceland has not said it wants to adopt the euro, but future membership of the EU would make that the most likely outcome. However, about 60 percent of Icelanders are now against joining the 27-member European bloc, according to a recent Capacent Gallup poll. Furthermore, some economists argue that Iceland's economy is not in synch with the euro zone and that ECB monetary policy would therefore not help give Iceland a more stable economy. They say the Canadian dollar would be more suitable than the euro because Canada's economy is more resource-based, much like that of Iceland, where the biggest exports are aluminum, fish and minerals. Trade with Canada, however, is minimal. A Gallup poll in June last year showed 30 percent of Icelanders were in favor of adopting the loonie, with 38 percent against.

 

^ It seems a little odd that Iceland would consider using the Canadian Dollar instead of the US Dollar, the British Pound or the Danish Krona (since Iceland was part of Denmark until 1944.) I can understand why Iceland is hesitant to join the EU and the Euro since the EU is in a big economic and political crisis. When I went to Iceland last March we had to go out of our way to get and use Icelandic Krona (I wanted some for my collection.) We used our credit card everywhere from taxis to small shops, but it was still weird to hear the price quoted in the thousands - like we were in Germany in the 1920s. I don't know how much help and stability the Canadian Dollar will give to Iceland since the two countries have little trade with each other. I can see Iceland using the British Pound, US Dollar or Danish Krona before the Canadian Dollar. ^

http://news.yahoo.com/canadian-ambassador-stirs-currency-debate-iceland-121430014.html;_ylt=AiVI1KiJyro.0YkSAUdGjEdvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTNlNDBscTl