Canada Declares Holiday to Honor Queen But TSX Stays Open

Brian Platt
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- The Canadian government has declared Monday a federal holiday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, but financial markets will function normally.

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TMX Group Ltd., operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, said the main exchange, the TSX Venture Exchange and TSX Alpha Exchange will follow normal trading hours on Sept. 19. Payments Canada, which runs the country’s payment clearing and settlement infrastructure, said it will be fully operational on the day.

The Bank of Canada, however, is rearranging its bond auction schedule. A planned 10-year bond auction on Monday will be moved to Sept. 22. A scheduled 5-year bond auction on Sept. 22 will be held Sept. 26. All other operations that support financial markets will run normally on Monday, the central bank said in a statement.

The status of other financial institutions is unclear. Federally-regulated companies including banks, life insurers, telecommunications companies and transportation firms won’t be required to close, Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan said on Twitter.

Details of the holiday are still being finalized and the federal government is working with provincial governments “to try and see that we’re aligned on this,” Trudeau said. The British monarch is Canada’s head of state.

“Declaring an opportunity for Canadians to mourn on Monday is going to be important, so for our part we will be letting federal employees know that Monday will be a day of mourning where they will not work,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, speaking to reporters at a Liberal caucus retreat in New Brunswick.

Some provinces automatically align their holidays with federal ones, while other provinces do so on a case-by-case basis. Ontario will not declare a holiday, instead marking it a day of mourning, Premier Doug Ford said in a statement. This will allow students to stay in school, learning about the Queen’s many contributions, he said.

“We encourage all Ontarians to use this day to honor Her Majesty and pay tribute to the extraordinary legacy she leaves behind,” Ford said.

Quebec Premier François Legault -- who is in the middle of a re-election campaign in the majority French-speaking province -- also ruled out making Monday a provincial holiday.

(Updates with bond auction rescheduling in third paragraph.)

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