On Thursday, September 19, the Canadian government announced a
new plan for national securities regulation. So far, it has the
support of just two provincial governments, Ontario and British
Columbia, but the plan invites all other provinces and territories
to sign on. Quebec's government opposes the idea and said it
would interfere in provincial jurisdiction. Alberta's
government said it "will need time to review" the
proposal. Quebec and Alberta defeated the last federal attempt to
create a national regulator, which the Supreme Court deemed
unconstitutional in the Securities Reference (2011 SCC 66,
online). But the new plan differs in two
important ways. First, there will be no federal law regulating the
securities industry in general. Instead, that will be regulated by
uniform provincial laws to be adopted by participating provinces.
Second, the federal law will deal with criminal provisions,
national data collection, and systemic risk in the financial
sector, areas
