A recent Supreme Court decision showed the power of provincial
securities commissions. In McLean v. British Columbia
(Securities Commission) (2013 SCC 67, available here), McLean challenged the BC Securities
Commission's 2010 decision to temporarily ban her from trading
securities (with exceptions) or being a director or officer of a BC
public company. In 2008, McLean accepted the same restrictions in a
settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission (the
"OSC") based on her involvement in events that ended in
2001. In 2010, the BC Securities Commission (the
"Commission") informed her that it intended to impose its
own restrictions, but the general limitation period in the BC
Securities Act requires that process to start within 6
years after the events that motivated the proceedings. The
Commission decided those events happened in 2008, not 2001, because
the appellant agreed to the Ontario restrictions in 2008. The BC
Court of Appeal decided this was correct (2011
