On December 8, Ontario's Bill 135, the Helping Ontario Families and Managing Responsibility Act 2010, received Royal Asset. The Act amends the Ontario Securities Act and, among other things, (i) establishes a regulatory framework for trading in derivatives in Ontario; (ii) allows the Ontario Securities Commission to regulate credit rating organizations; (iii) provides the OSC authority to recognize and make decisions related to alternative trading systems and (iv) extends current prohibitions on insider trading and tipping to issuers that have a "real and substantial connection" to Ontario and whose securities are listed and posted on the TSX-V. Most of the amendments came into force on the day of Royal Assent, while certain provisions principally relating to the regulation of derivatives will not come into force until a date still to be proclaimed.
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