The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, June 10, edition that for the first time in over a decade, Ontario has issued a U.S.-dollar bond without U.S. banks. The Globe's Jameson Berkow writes that the province sold $2-billion (U.S.) in 10-year bonds last week, assisted by Barclays and three Canadian banks: BMO Capital Markets, CIBC and Bank of Nova Scotia. Prior to this, American banks had been involved in every U.S.-dollar bond sale since 2011. In January, Ontario sold $3-billion (U.S.) in five-year bonds with Bank of America. Ontario Premier Doug Ford had pledged to ban U.S. companies from government contracts due to the tariff war. However, Ontario Finance Ministry spokesman Scott Blodgett stated that U.S. banks can still participate in Ontario bond issues. In fact, Mr. Blodgett said, Bank of America remains a long-standing member of the banking syndicate that regularly assists with the sale of Ontario's domestic market bonds. He said: "U.S. banks were not 'dropped' from our bond sale. Inclusion in any Ontario bond deal is a competitive process with financial partners around the globe vying for international mandates." Last week's deal generated "record interest for an Ontario 10-year USD deal," Mr. Blodgett added.