canadian stocks were sharply lower in midday trading friday with the sptsx composite index down 48473 points as fears of a new covid19 variant and potential government responses pummel global markets at midday all sectors were down meanwhile canadian pacific railway ltd said that it has received regulatory approvals from mexican regulators for its merger with kansas city southern canadas sptsx composite index was down 22 at 2113511 and the bluechip sptsx 60 was down 22 at 127850 canadian pacific said it has received regulatory pretransaction control approvals from the mexican federal economic competition commission as well as from the mexican federal telecommunications institute its shares were down 16 at c16283 automobileparts manufacturer linamar corp announced it would repurchase about 44 million of its shares through a normal course issuer bid representing around 10 of the companys public float its shares fell 15 to c7635