Will new harmonized securities rules bring Canada closer to a single national securities regulator?
oneN By Glenn Kauth
The power of
ew rules harmonizing Canadian securities laws are either a "major achievement" or simply a mir- ror of the existing system that does little to reduce fragmentation in capital markets. It's really all up to whom you ask.
"Practically speaking, it looks like it did before," says Sean
MacLachlan, a securities lawyer with Carscallen Leitch LLP. Aside from his role with the Calgary-based law firm, MacLachlan is the corporate secretary to upstart energy player Blacksteel Oil Sands Inc. He says for companies raising money, new standards for investment dealers and advisers that came into effect Sept. 28 won't change much. "Unless they're going to move to a national regulator . . . I don't know that the new systems are going to make a huge difference." The comments and changes come at a time when debate
over federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's plans for a single government body to oversee securities regulation heats up. In June, Flaherty appointed former British Columbia Securities Commission chairman Doug Hyndman to head up the
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