TORONTO (Reuters) – When Canada’s big banks and pension funds needed sizzle to combat the steak offered by the London Stock Exchange’s bid for the Toronto Stock Exchange, they looked only as far as the Canadian flag.
The iconic red maple leaf — and sweet syrup from the trees — conveyed in a word what the Maple Group consortium of big financial firms wanted to tell TMX shareholders: We don’t want foreigners controlling our markets, do we?
Whether the appeal to nationalism worked or whether it was just a matter of money may be debated forever. But foes of the proposed tie-up of the LSE and TMX are already billing the death of the friendly transatlantic deal as a triumph of home-grown heroes.
“I think this is Canadians asserting themselves and, in fact, fulfilling the promise of free trade, that we will specialize in certain areas and lead in the world, which we
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