The Ontario Securities Commission today announced a number of technical amendments to provincial securities legislation.

The changes to the Securities Act and the Commodity Futures Act were included in the Ontario Government’s Responsible Choices for Growth and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which received Royal Assent on December 5.

“These amendments are part of our on-going process of reviewing legislation to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of investors and the securities industry,” said OSC General Counsel, Susan Wolburgh Jenah.

The changes have been introduced for the following purposes:

  • to harmonize Ontario legislation with the requirements of other provinces, by changing the lapse date for a prospectus from 12 months from the date of the final receipt of the prospectus to 12 months from the date of the prospectus;
  • to avoid duplicative regulation by removing the requirement for the Director to review escrow or pooling arrangements which are acceptable to a recognized stock exchange;
  • to eliminate legislative impediments to the distribution of proxy materials and information circulars by permitting delivery via electronic means rather than by prepaid mail;
  • to clarify when the statutory right of action against an issuer or selling security holder for a misrepresentation in an offering memorandum applies; and
  • ato make a number of other minor clarifications or corrections to ambiguous wording.