Canada planning national securities regulator

The issue is important to workers because so many depend on sound financial markets to ensure healthy pension funds.

Ottawa (13 Jan. 2009) - The Harper government plans to set up a national securities regulator for Canada.

Canada is the only member of the Group of Seven industrialized nations without a national securities watchdog. It has a dismal reputation at home and abroad in dealing with corporate crimes and wrongdoing.

For example, Conrad Black is now serving a six-year prison term in Florida because U.S. authorities – not Canadian – called him to account for his crimes. He has yet to be charged, or even seriously investigated, by any securities regulator in Canada.

The issue is important to workers because so many depend on sound financial markets to ensure healthy pension funds. Currently, securities regulation is handled at the provincial level, forcing companies to deal with 10 different regulators.

Details in budget

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty signalled his intention to act after a new report recommended setting up a national regulator to harmonize investment regulations across the country. Details will be announced in the Jan. 27 federal budget, he said.

The report, put together by a business panel, said Canada has a constitutional right to impose a national regulator upon the provinces. Several provinces are currently opposed to the idea, including Alberta and Quebec.

“The global financial crisis has thrust the role of regulation and the lack of it into the limelight,” Flaherty said. “This is not the time for business as usual."

A report by Columbia University professor John Coffee concluded that Canada loses about $10 billion a year, including 65,000 jobs, because of its fragmented securities system.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE