Finance Minister Jim Flaherty took his fight for a national securities regulator Thursday straight to the heart of one of the provinces – Alberta – that is most opposed to the idea.
“We are the only nation in the G8 and G20 lacking a national securities regulatory agency,” Flaherty said in a speech prepared for delivery to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. “In a word, it is embarrassing. And, our trading partners the world-wide bring it up, over and over again.”
Flaherty wants to set up a Canadian version of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the American stock market watchdog that’s prosecuted and jailed hundreds of white-collar fraudsters.
“Canadians, who rely on capital markets for their savings and retirement plans, deserve the protection of strong and consistent securities regulation that reaches all parts of our country – a key consideration given the number of baby boomers who will be leaving the work force over the next few years,” Flaherty said. A copy of his speech was distributed to news organizations ahead before he delivered it Thursday evening.
The governments of the provinces of Alberta and Quebec, though, aren’t buying what Flaherty’s selling and are ready to go to court to prevent Ottawa from setting up a national securities regulator even though Flaherty’s plan for such a regulator would let provinces opt out if they didn’t like the idea.
Alberta Finance Minister Ted Morton has denounced Flaherty’s plan as an “unprecedented power grab.”
But Flaherty was trying to use a bit of the old Irish charm to convince Calgary's business elite that it was in their interest to sign on to the idea of a national regulator.
“We can wait and argue over federal versus provincial jurisdiction on this file until the cows come home. In the meantime, the world outside is moving ahead,” Flaherty said. “This dithering can’t continue.”