Proposed capital markets act allows legislation by
regulatory fiat, lacks consultation
The business and legal community should be paying close
attention to the controversial Provincial Capital Markets Act
(PCMA), legislation proposed under the memorandum of agreement
between the provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick,
Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island and the Minister of Finance
(Canada) regarding the creation of a Cooperative Capital Markets
Regulatory System. The legislation introduces significant
substantive law changes without meaningful consultation and adopts
a "platform approach" that allows for legislation by
regulatory fiat.
The achievement of consensus among the participating provinces
is a great accomplishment. That said, we have an overarching
concern that makes it difficult to support this legislation. Our
concern is with the extent to which the PCMA introduces significant
substantive changes to Ontario law and the absence of a
