Canada Government Bonds

Canada is a country in North America. Its advanced economy relies chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks.

The Canadian bond market is represented by government, municipal and corporate bonds. There are also “maple bonds” - Canadian-dollar denominated bonds issued by foreign corporations or borrowers in the Canadian fixed income market.

The Canadian government bond market is represented by Government of Canada Bonds which consist of two segments: Canadian dollar bonds and US dollar bonds issued by the Bank of Canada on behalf of the Canadian Government. Government of Canada Bonds are represented by:
• Government of Canada Domestic Nominal Bonds - bonds with a semi-annual coupon income and a maturity of 2, 3, 5, 10, 30, 50 years.
• Government of Canada Domestic Treasury Bills - short-term bonds with a zero coupon, with a maturity of less than a year.
• Regular Treasury Bills are bills that are issued for a maturity of three months or more.
• Fungible and Non-fungible Cash-management Bills are bills that are issued with a maturity of less than three months.
• Government of Canada Domestic Real Return Bonds (RRBs) are Canadian government bonds. Unlike standard marketable bonds, RRBs are fixed-coupon, interest payments consist of a standard coupon amount and an inflation component that is paid on the maturity date. RRBs provide protection from inflation.

Corporate bonds in Canada are held mainly by institutional investors such as life insurance companies, pension funds, deposit-taking institutions, and mutual funds. Life insurance companies have traditionally been the largest holders of corporate bonds. Since corporate bonds are mainly a buy-and-hold investment for most institutional investors, secondary market activity does not provide much insight into the inner workings of the market. Secondary market trading of corporate bonds is quite thin and generally represents a small portion of bond market trading in Canada. As a result, the level of liquidity is low and transaction costs are typically higher than for government bonds.