TORONTO, July 17th, 2006 - Canadian Trading and Quotation System Inc. (“CNQ”) announced today that the launch of the Pure Trading marketplace has been set for Thursday, October 12th 2006.



As previously indicated, Pure Trading will commence its operations in two phases. A cross printing facility will be the first component of the marketplace available to Pure Trading participants. The full continuous auction market is scheduled to be implemented four to six weeks after the initial launch to permit participants and their service providers to finalize development and testing efforts for connectivity to the Pure Trading marketplace.



Pure Trading will provide a better, faster and cheaper alternative to existing venues for the trading of Canadian listed securities. In recent weeks, Pure Trading has achieved a number of important milestones:



• OSC regulatory approval;

• Publication of the specifications in the form of programmer’s guides for the Pure Trading FIX, STAMP, market data and regulatory gateways; and

• Commencement of third party testing of the trading gateways.



Pure Trading is the second major initiative of Canadian Trading and Quotation System Inc., which launched the first new Canadian stock exchange in over 70 years in 2003. CNQ is a fully electronic auction market designed for emerging companies. It continues to attract listing and investor interest with its enhanced disclosure and additional liquidity provided by competitive market makers.



Media Contact:

Ian Bandeen

Vice-Chairman & CEO

CNQ / Pure Trading

(416) 572-2000 ext 2265