CANADA: Further pressure on states to agree on Canada national securities regulator

Monday March 25 2013

Further to the update of 20th November 2012, the Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has indicated in the 2013 Budget that if the states do not come to a consensus on a Canada national securities regulator, the federal government will forge ahead by proposing national legislation.

In the 2013 Budget, the Finance Minister has stated that the Government would be prepared to delegate the administration of its own securities legislation to a common securities regulator if enough provinces and territories were willing to do the same. The Government would support an agreement with willing provinces and territories to establish a common regulator with the following elements:

• The common regulator should administer a single set of rules
• It should be operationally independent and self-funded through a single, simplified set of fees
• It should be directed by a professional board of directors with broad capital markets-related expertise
• A common regulator would also preserve the elements of the current system that work well, such as maintaining regulatory offices in each participating jurisdiction, with the capacity and resources to serve market participants locally

A federal capital markets regulatory framework would be applied consistently on a national basis and would not displace provincial securities commissions, which would still manage the day-to-day regulation of securities activities.

Click on the above link for the 2013 Budget.