Canada’s securities regulators are launching a review of automatic share sale programs after controversial trading last year at Bombardier Inc. led to calls for reform by investor rights advocates. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), an umbrella organization for provincial securities watchdogs, said on Thursday it will examine whether automatic securities disposition plans place “appropriate constraints” […]

So a couple of additional provinces might sign up for Ottawa’s deal to create some sort of centralized securities regulator. Ottawa just won’t let go of this foolish idea. Having been rebuked by the Supreme Court, having been shown that all the claims made to justify a “national”security commissions were bogus, the federal government is […]

The federal minister of finance is wrong to think a national securities commission would lower risk. Give the federal minister of finance his due: He is nothing if not persistent. Rebuffed by the Supreme Court of Canada in a unanimous and blunt judgment, the minister is trying to squeeze a national securities commission through the […]

The time has come to modernize the obsolete regulations of takeovers in Canada. What’s wrong with the current system of regulations of hostile takeovers put in place in 1986 by the Canadian securities commissions? Well, it is quaint, distorting…and illegal. For instance, empirical results provide clear evidence that the changes in U.S. state laws to […]

Last May, Canada’s Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty tabled a bill that aimed to replace the 13 provincial and territorial securities commissions with a national one. The government immediately submitted its proposal to the Supreme Court of Canada, to get an opinion on its constitutionality. The IGPPO deposited a position paper to draw the court’s […]

Of all the convoluted arguments marshaled to support the case for a centralized, national securities commission, none is more shop-worn than pointing to the shining example of the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Clearly, it is asserted with a booming voice, modern financial markets require tightly coordinated regulations and enforcement, which only a single, […]

In the Globe and Mail of December 1st, Mr. Monahan states boldly, peremptorily, that “The policy case for a single national regulator is surely overwhelming”. But it is not, far from it. His first argument, if that is what it is, has to do with the issuance of shares in all parts of Canada. Mr. […]

(This comment reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Institute or of its board of directors) It is curious, even strange, to hear the federal finance minister on May 26th 2010 repeat, like a well-trained parrot, the same lame arguments about why Canada must have a single, national, securities commission. […]

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s obsession with creating a national securities commission is becoming clearer. On Tuesday evening, he revealed the cost of the new federal infrastructure project he wishes to roll out, which comes to $154 million for 2009-2010 alone (as indicated on page 102 of the budget speech). We understand Mr. Flaherty’s commitment to […]

Admittedly, this is no easy task. The Hockin Report is the third attempt in recent years at selling the idea. Which combination of carrot and stick can sway those provinces that are still reluctant to hand over to a federal or national organization their regulatory and supervisory powers of securities markets? Instead of focusing on […]

The Institute for Governance collaborators issued a report outlining their observations and viewpoints regarding the merger between the Montréal Exchange and the TSX Group. As part of the public consultation process launched by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) in February 2008 regarding the merger between the Montréal Exchange and the TSX Group and the […]

Calls to eliminate the current architecture of the securities regulatory apparatus in Canada and replace it with a single, national securities commission have reached fever pitch over the last few weeks. Unsubstantiated claims that “Canada is the laughing stock of the rest of the world” are bandied around as if that were a compelling argument […]