Thursday, February 10, 2011

Merging Stock Exchanges

Today's poll question; do you think that merging the Toronto and London stock exchanges jeopardizes our economic sovereignty? If Jack Layton opposes it, then right away you know it will be of great benefit to Canadians. This makes our markets open to a much larger consumer base that otherwise is not buying selling Canadian equities, while companies operating in Canada still have to abide by Canadian law. The NDP is against global competition because it reduces union bargaining power. Has the NDP ever favoured any free trade agreement ever? The merger might change the way companies report their data, but they are all still subject to Canadian law. We are not giving up sovereignty.

Any Canadian who owns stock will see the value of their portfolio rise. We want to open our markets up to foreign investments as much as possible to maximize the value of Canadian business. I'm still waiting for the feds to take a position on this, but the NDP certainly wasted no time opposing it. I treat Jack Layton as my canary in the coal mine. As long as he is singing and complaining, I know that all is well. When he shuts up, I know something is wrong. But I guess Jack become less and relevant the more the Liberals hijack NDP positions. The Libs are moving away from the center and towards the left. Good luck guys, I remember how well that worked for Stephane Dion.

Quebec does have the power to veto the merger as per terms of a past Toronto Montreal merger, so this could die before the issue ever reaches Ottawa.

4 comments:

  1. There is problem nobody's thought of. They been wanting to merge all the Canadian stock exchanges together. If this merger goes through you can say bye bye to any chance of the rest of the exchanges merging. This merger stinks and I'll bet it doesn't go through.

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  2. I'm not an expert on this subject, but from what I've heard so far, it sounds like a good idea. I also agree that if the NDP go all hysterical without any facts to back up they're hysteria, it's probably a good thing for the economy.

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  3. From Wiki:
    The major shareholders [of the London Stock Market] are now as follows:
    Borse Dubai 20.6%
    Qatar Investment Authority 15.1%
    Unicredit 6.0%
    Intesa Sanpaolo 5.3%
    FIL Limited 5.0%
    Legal & General 5.0%

    The very fact Qatar and Dubai have a majority interest in the LSE makes me dislike this proposed sale. But, I'm no expert either.
    -- Gabby in QC

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  4. Well, if it says that on Wiki: it has to be true.

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