Alberta has come out against the latest proposal that Canada adopt a national securities regulator.

Iris Evans, Alberta’s Minister of Finance and Enterprise, issued a statement Monday evening indicating that the province “remains steadfastly opposed to a single federal regulator.”

“Securities regulation is a provincial responsibility, and this would be an intrusion into an area of provincial jurisdiction. We will continue to oppose, through all available avenues, including legal action if necessary, any move toward establishing a single national regulator,” she said.

“In today’s turbulent economic climate, the structural changes required for the move to a single regulator could further unsettle the capital markets,” she warned. “The most immediate and significant improvement to Canadian securities regulation would be for Ontario to harmonize its securities legislation with the rest of Canada and join the passport system.”

“Instead of moving to a single regulator, the federal government should support the improvements that have already been made by the provinces and territories under the passport system,” Evans said, adding, “There is no evidence that Canada’s current regulatory structure is deficient, and the purported benefits of a single regulator have already been achieved under the passport system. In fact, independent international assessments have consistently ranked Canada’s securities regulatory system as one of the best in the world, ahead of the United Kingdom and tied with the United States.”

Evans noted that Alberta has been leading the development of the passport system and she said that it still sees this system as preferable. “This is a system that is essentially a free trade agreement between provinces based on mutual recognition of regulatory systems. Alberta and most other provinces and territories have done a tremendous amount of work over the past four years to build the passport system, and this recommendation is an obstacle to that progress,” she said.

IE