This was their position before they launched the $10 (6 years ago). The $5 was supposed to come out a year or so after the $10 (like 2019 or 2020). Do you think this statement suggest another 3 years?
Sometimes I wonder if they're just going to introduce a new coin!
Well, if $5 bill demand continues to rise at the rate they're going, a $5 coin may have to be considered because the cost to produce $5 bills by that point will be significant.
We lost the $2 bill in 1996 in favor of a coin equivalent because Canada was in a tough economy at the time, and in the 1995 Federal Budget - delivered in late February 1995 - had many cost-saving measures announced. I had mixed feelings when a $2 coin was announced - one side of me was devastated, while another side of me was happy because of some cashiers refusing to give me $2 bills in my change, including one retailer who - recently at the time - stood firm in his refusal to give me $2 bills in my change, and I even argued with him. He gave me two choices: Take the loonies, or refund my purchase. I reluctantly took the loonies and left in a sour mood. Needless to say, the store lost me as a customer. If this situation happened with me today (loonies vs. toonies, $5 bills vs. $10 bills), and I was faced with such decision, I would take the refund and stop doing business with them. As for that store, it is permanently closed.
But now, it seems like the $2 coin has fallen in decline in the last few years (demand peaked late-90s or early 2000s), and if this is true, that could explain the significant number of $5 bills in circulation today.
Regarding the new $5 bill, I don't think it will take that long to design it, considering technology these days.