BMO Financial Group Announces Quarterly Cash Distributions for BMO Exchange
Traded Funds (ETFs)

TORONTO , Dec. 18 /CNW/ - BMO Financial Group announces today the fourth quarter 2009 cash distributions for BMO Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)*. Unitholders of record on December 30, 2009 will receive cash distributions payable on January 12, 2010 . Please note that for the indicated ETFs, these are estimated amounts only as of December 16, 2009 and include forward looking information(xx) which may cause the estimates to change. Details of the "per unit" distribution amounts are as follows:

    
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    BMO Exchange Traded Fund                      Ticker   Cash Distribution
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    BMO Canadian Government Bond Index ETF          ZGB          0.120754
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    BMO Dow Jones Canada Titans 60 Index ETF        ZCN          0.104795
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    BMO US Equity Hedged to CAD Index ETF           ZUE          0.095916
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    BMO Dow Jones Industrial Average Hedged to
     CAD Index ETF                                  ZDJ          0.081454
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    BMO Short Federal Bond Index ETF                ZFS          0.071982
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    BMO Short Provincial Bond Index ETF             ZPS          0.077171
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    BMO Short Corporate Bond Index ETF              ZCS          0.093352
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    BMO High Yield US Corporate Bond Hedged to
     CAD ETF(xx)                                    ZHY          0.267619
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    BMO S&P/TSX Equal Weight Banks Index ETF        ZEB          0.047112
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    BMO S&P/TSX Equal Weight Oil & Gas Index ETF    ZEO          0.082488
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    BMO International Equity Hedged to CAD Index
     ETF(xx)                                        ZDM          0.129616
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    BMO Emerging Markets Equity Index ETF(xx)       ZEM          0.219492
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    BMO S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals
     Hedged to CAD Index ETF                        ZMT              -
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BMO ETF Products (www.bmo.com/etfs)

* BMO ETFs are managed and administered by Jones Heward Investment Counsel Inc., a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Bank of Montreal .

(xx) Forward-looking information

This notice contains forward-looking statements with respect to the estimated annual distributions for the ETFs. By their nature, these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual distributions to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Material factors that could cause the actual distributions to differ from the estimated distributions include, but are not limited to the actual amounts of distributions received by the ETFs.

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal , BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified North American financial services organization. With total assets of $388 billion as at October 31, 2009 , and more than 36,000 employees, BMO provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and solutions.

"Dow Jones," "Dow Jones Industrial Average", "Dow Jones Canada Titans 60", "DIAMONDS" and "Titans" are service marks of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use for certain purposes. The BMO ETFs based on Dow Jones' indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Dow Jones, and Dow Jones makes no representation regarding the advisability of trading in such ETFs.

Standard & Poor's(R) and S&P(R) are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P") and "TSX" is a trademark of Toronto Stock Exchange. These trademarks have been licensed for use by BMO. The BMO ETF is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P or Toronto Stock Exchange, and S&P and Toronto Stock Exchange make no representation, warranty or condition regarding the advisability of buying, selling or holding units/shares in the BMO ETF.

For further information: Media Contacts: Kasia Lech, Toronto, [email protected], [phone]; Ronald Monet, Montréal, [email protected], [phone]; Laurie Grant, Vancouver, [email protected], [phone], Internet: www.bmo.com