No, this is not being issued by the Royal Canadian Mint because of the Federal Election. If you can see a connection, you’re doing better than I am.

The new one-dollar coin, which features the familiar loon in flight along with the official emblem of the Canadian Olympic Team, will serve as a good luck charm for Canadian athletes competing at the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Royal Canadian Mint has provided each member of the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic teams with a Lucky Loonie as their own personal good luck charm.

As a circulation coin, Canadians from coast to coast will have a chance to own a piece of the Canadian Olympic dream. It’s a reminder of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City where Canadian ice maker Trent Evans embedded a Loonie at centre ice prior to the Games to bring good luck to Canada’s gold medal-winning men’s and women’s hockey teams. Then in 2004, the Royal Canadian Mint created the first Lucky Loonie as a way of passing on its special magic to the Canadian Olympic Team as it departed for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.

You can get more details in the press release entitled The Royal Canadian Mint cheers on Olympic and Paralympic athletes with the launch of the 2006 Lucky Loonie.