Canada: Government Bond Purchase Program

In Canada, the shock of the COVID-19 crisis drove up bid-ask spreads on Government of Canada (GoC) bonds. The Bank of Canada (BoC) announced the Government Bond Purchase Program (GBPP) to support the functioning of its government bond market, support other market liquidity tools, and replace the BoC\u27s long-standing fiscal agent activities. The GBPP conducted multi-rate reverse auctions with primary dealers to purchase GoC bonds in the secondary market. The GBPP purchased bonds across the yield curve but concentrated on two- and five-year tenors. In June 2020, with CAD 64.7 billion (USD 48 billion) outstanding, the BoC announced that the program\u27s purpose had shifted to quantitative easing (QE). The GBPP continued well after the GoC market calmed and, in October 2021, the BoC ended QE, leaving the program to conduct regular liquidity management