I know why its earlier in Canada, but I grew up in NYC and NJ...and it wasn't THAT much colder.  American Thanksgiving is also HUGE, with the whole Pilgrim and Plymoth Rock narrative...I remember dressing up in a pilgrim hat made of cardboard when I was a kid.

The first buy of the day was me, just 100 shares in one of my RRSP accounts...it had a few hundred in it doing nothing so what the heck.  It filled at $3.22 even though the quote I had before hitting the final buy button was $3.23, and I now see that it was transacted over the Tri-Act (M) exchange, darkest of the dark pools.