Bankers in Toronto Dodge Wall Street’s Return-to-Office Pressure

As Manhattan slowly springs to life again, with Wall Street’s biggest firms pushing traders and bankers back into the office, the scene some 350 miles to the northwest, where North America’s No. 2 financial center lies, is vastly different.

Toronto’s Bay Street is quiet, laid low by successive waves of Covid-19. Union Station, normally one of the continent’s busiest commuter hubs, is largely deserted, even in rush hour. It will get busier as the crisis eases but the financial district, most here agree, has undergone a change that is likely permanent.

Unlike on Wall Street, where the likes of JPMorgan ...