Canada is one of the only industrialized countries in the world
that does not have a national securities regulator. Instead, it has
a nationwide patchwork of thirteen securities commissions –
one for each province and territory. The reason for this patchwork
is Canada's Constitutional division of powers between the
federal and provincial governments. Because of their
jurisdiction over property and civil rights and matters of a purely
local nature, the provincial legislatures have the authority
to legislate in respect of the securities trade within their
respective borders.
Despite more than 80 years of attempts to centralize and
standardize Canadian securities regulation, all past proposals to
create a national securities regulator have failed to pass
constitutional muster. The most recent failed attempt was rejected
as unconstitutional by a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada in
2011's Reference re Securities
Act.
