similar surface characteristics to Luminus so that it could transition production to using the polymer substrate when scale production issues were resolved. The Bank of Canada also secured Canadian rights for Luminus and continued to develop the substrate for future use. The use of polymer as a substrate was considered in part because access to the polymer substrate could be controlled, and replicating the chemical and physical recipe would be difficult. The practice of restricting access to the substrate used for manufacturing money existed as early as the 13th century, during which Chinese rulers stationed guards at mulberry forests, as mulberry bark was used to produce paper money. Use of a polymer substrate in the upcoming banknotes was announced by Jim Flaherty in the 2010 Canadian federal budget speech on 4 March 2010, at which time he also announced that in the future the loonie ($1 coin) and toonie ($2 coin) would be made of steel instead of nickel to reduce manufacturing costs. Canada became the ninth country to print all its banknotes using a polymer substrate, following Australia, Bermuda, Brunei, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Romania, and Vietnam. Development The Bank of Canada began planning for the Frontier series in 2005. It used a team of chemists, physicists, and engineers it had assembled for the development of the 2001 Canadian Journey series to determine potential counterfeiting threats and assess substrate materials and potential security features for use in banknote designs. Once the technical evaluation of materials and security features was complete, the Bank of Canada created a formal set of guidelines specifying "the combination of security features and substrate" that it issued to bank note manufacturing and design companies. The resultant bid designs were evaluated for technical, security, and financial merit. Once the design and substrate were chosen, the Bank of Canada negotiated a contract with Note Printing Australia (NPA) for the supply of the substrate polymer and the security features implemented in the design. The substrate is supplied to NPA by Securency International (now known as Innovia Films Ltd). The Bank also negotiated for the rights to the use of intellectual property associated with the material and security features owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia. The Bank of Canada issued a press release stating its intention to issue new banknotes in 2011. A study commissioned by the Bank of Canada was conducted by the University of