Bring in a Canadian securities regulator: panel

The global financial crisis heightens the need for a single national securities regulator, the head of a panel appointed by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Monday.

"With the clouds of a global financial crisis gathering we must get our act together — not 'some day' but right now," Tom Hockin said in the prepared text of his speech to members of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

"That is why, unlike previous studies of this subject, we propose that if after a reasonable time, a province or territory still choose to not join in this new regime, market participants in those non-participating regions should have the opportunity to opt in directly and reap the benefits of a single, national regulator," he said.

Hockin was speaking as part of the release of a report by his seven-person panel of experts, who urged the country to move away from its current system of 13 securities regulators in the provinces and territories and their individual regimes.

While the regulator would be national, it would operate from regional offices so it could address local needs, he said.

The renewed push to create a national securities regulator could face opposition from the provinces, with Quebec and Alberta among the most entrenched opponents.

"Securities regulation is a provincial responsibility, and this would be an intrusion into an area of provincial jurisdiction," Alberta Finance Minister Iris Evans said in a statement Monday.

"We will continue to oppose, through all available avenues, including legal action if necessary, any move toward establishing a single national regulator."

When asked about the opposition from Alberta and Quebec, Flaherty called the establishment of a national regulator a "necessary but voluntary exercise." He encouraged provinces to look at it not as an academic exercise but as a need "for consumer protection."

"These are extraordinary times. This is not time for business as usual," said Flaherty, who advocated for a national regulator last year and was instrumental in the establishment of the Hockin panel.

Investor panel and fund recommended

Hockin's panel is making several recommendations to improve investor service, including the creation of an investor panel and an investor compensation fund.

The group is also calling for the establishment of an independent adjunctive tribunal, which, Hockin said, would remove the "perception of bias that might exist when a securities commission is both regulator and adjudicator."

A former federal Conservative cabinet minister, Hockin said the panel met with more than 100 stakeholders, received over 70 written submissions and consulted with experts from the U.K. and the U.S.

Also on the panel are:

Ian Bruce, chief executive of Peters & Co. Ltd.Denis Desautels, former auditor general of Canada.Hal Kvisle, president of TransCanada Corp.Dawn Russell, a law professor at Dalhousie University.Terry Salman of Salman Partners Inc.Heather Zordel, a partner at Cassels Brock & Blackwell.

The release of the report comes just ahead of meetings this week of Prime Minister Stephen Harper with the provincial and territorial leaders over the handling of the economy.

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said he was pleased the panel endorsed the province's position on a single national regulator and staked out Ontario's interest in the issue.

"Our government supports a common securities regulator," Duncan said. "Given the significant role Ontario's financial sector plays in Canada's capital markets, we would expect to see the headquarters located in Toronto."

Should the average investor really care?

"The question of whether securities regulation is done by 13 provinces and territories or by a single regulator is not one that the average investor is familiar with or even cares very much about," says Christopher Nicholls, a securities and corporate law professor at the University of Western Ontario.

"But the reason that it could be very important for individual investors, whether they realize it or not, is that to the extent that a securities single regulator is more efficient, it could lower costs for our companies, could lower the cost of capital for our issuers, and to the extent that that single regulator could improve enforcement would also obviously be of benefit to investors" he said.