Bernard Landry's official position is undecided. But Quebec's finance minister didn't sound yesterday like a man philosophically opposed to a plan to strip the Montreal Exchange of its stock listing and trading responsibilities in favour of making it Canada's sole exchange for so-called financial derivatives. It would not have been responsible to slam the door on this project without studying it. But you can't give it the green light, either, without getting answers to questions about its effect on businesses, investors and Montreal as a financial centre. It will then focus exclusively on derivatives, the fastest-growing segment of its business.
Derivatives consist of options and futures contracts.
Options are financial instruments that, for a price, confer the right to buy or sell a fixed amount of securities at a set price for a predetermined length of time. Futures are contracts under which a buyer agrees to take possession of a certain quantity of product at a predetermined time and price, and a seller agrees to supply it. They're used by producers looking to protect themselves from market fluctuations, and speculators trying to anticipate the fluctuations. Reporters asked Landry how the surrender of stock trading here jibed with the Parti Quebecois government's sovereignty aspirations. He said the question isn't really relevant, because the matters are unrelated.