CanDeal and Thomson TradeWeb Join Forces to Deliver Online Fixed-Income Markets for Institutional Investors in Canada

CanDeal to Adopt TradeWeb Technology; CanDeal and TradeWeb to Offer Access to US and European Markets to Canadian Institutional Investors and Dealers 

TORONTO/JERSEY CITY (June 2, 2005) - CanDeal, the leading multi-dealer-to- institutional investor online debt securities trading platform in Canada, and Thomson TradeWeb, a unit of the Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TOR: TOC) announced today a long-term technology and co-marketing agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, TradeWeb will supply CanDeal with its leading, world class trading network and straight-through trade processing solutions to significantly enhance the domestic trading services offered by CanDeal to Canadian institutional investors and investment dealers.

"The CanDeal TradeWeb partnership creates a powerful link into the global capital markets for the institutional fixed-income marketplace in Canada." said Jayson Horner, Chief Executive Officer of CanDeal. "By having the CanDeal trading platform integrated with TradeWeb, CanDeal has ensured that the Canadian debt capital markets will have the necessary infrastructure to remain competitive with other G10 markets and that institutional investors, inside and outside of Canada gain electronic access to a larger liquidity pool from leading global investment dealers. They also benefit from highly efficient trade processing with the dealers."

Through CanDeal, Canadian institutional investors and investment dealers will gain unprecedented access to TradeWeb's global network of online fixed-income markets. Furthermore, this strategic alliance will provide CanDeal investment dealers with the opportunity to receive trade flows in CanDeal products from TradeWeb's global client base of more than 2,000 buy-side institutions.

"We are delighted to team up with CanDeal in the Canadian market and provide institutional investors with unparalleled online access to global capital markets." said Jim Toffey, Chief Executive Officer of Thomson TradeWeb. "With its rapidly growing trading volumes and extensive franchise among dealers and institutional investors CanDeal is an excellent partner. It provides Thomson TradeWeb with a strong foundation for expanding its business within the Canadian market."

Tim Cain, Managing Director and Global Head of Fixed Income Electronic Trading, RBC Capital Markets, said "We have embraced the manner in which global fixed income markets are evolving electronically. The benefits of electronic trading are widely recognized and we have a strong commitment to servicing client needs in this increasingly important aspect of their business."

"NBF's expanding capital markets business is planning to take full advantage of the domestic and global opportunities afforded to us through this dynamic platform. We strongly believe that the platform will broaden our client base and enhance customer service." said Denis Girouard, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, National Bank Financial.

Gary Gibson, Director of Capital Markets for Manitoba Treasury said "CanDeal and TradeWeb deliver benefits in terms of access to depth of products, services and liquidity that will improve trade execution and increase overall transparency in the market. As an investor, the new platform provides a trading environment that helps us with our compliance needs and now it will provide access to debt securities in foreign markets. As an issuer, we also look forward to the benefits of the online exposure created through this partnership."

When the new CanDeal system becomes available over TradeWeb later in 2005, clients will be able to seamlessly execute trades in all the asset classes traded by TradeWeb and CanDeal, as well as having access to leading straight-through processing and market data.

About CanDeal

CanDeal is Canada's leading multi-dealer-to-institutional investor online debt securities trading network (www.candeal.ca). CanDeal's robust and reliable platform provides its participants with continuous access to the deepest pool of liquidity for fixed income products. Today, the network delivers the market making power of seven of the world's largest investment dealers.

The CanDeal electronic marketplace is open and available to all institutional investors and investment dealers across Canada. In addition to straight-through-processing, online trade allocations, real time trade blotters and confirmations, the system also provides its users with superior compliance and audit functionality. CanDeal also provides a real time market data price feed for fixed income securities.

About Thomson TradeWeb

TradeWeb is the leading online Fixed Income trading network, with over 7 million trades and total volume surpassing $77 trillion since its inception in 1998. TradeWeb's multi-dealer auction model links 161 trading desks of 35 of the world's leading Fixed Income dealers with more than 2,000 Buyside institutions in North & South America, Europe and Asia. The business is also the leading electronic straight-through processing network for the Fixed Income market, providing dealers and buy-side institutions with paperless trade allocations and confirmations on its fully integrated TradeXpress network. TradeWeb's STP network also includes AccountNet, the first OTC derivatives counterparty management tool and the leading data warehouse for OTC derivatives legal documentation and standing settlement instructions for all fixed income products.

About Thomson Financial

Thomson Financial is a US$1.73 billion provider of information and technology solutions to the worldwide financial community. Through the widest range of products and services in the industry, Thomson Financial helps clients in more than 70 countries make better decisions, be more productive and achieve superior results. Thomson Financial is part of The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to more than 20 million business and professional customers in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate e-learning and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. With revenues of US$8.10 billion, The Thomson Corporation lists its common shares on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).