With 2020 now underway, we outline the trends we anticipate in
securities litigation and enforcement throughout the year.
1. Still no national securities regulator, but important
national developments
2019 saw no meaningful movement on the attempt to achieve a
national securities regulator. The status quo of each
Canadian province and territory having their own securities
regulator continues. As property (e.g. securities) and civil rights
are within the constitutional jurisdiction of the provinces, the
only way in which a national securities regulator can be achieved
is through cooperation and opting in by each province. A number of
provinces, including Ontario and British Columbia, have indicated a
willingness to opt into a national regulator. They have gone so far
as to create, with the help of the federal government, a
"Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory System" and
staffed a "Capital Markets Authority Implementation
Organization" to work towards a single
