The departing chairman of the Ontario Securities Commission compares the regulator to a famed Triple Crown winning racehorse in a missive to OSC staff.

In a memo to staff of the OSC, and its commissioners, which was posted on the regulator’s website Wednesday, David Wilson says, “The organization is ready for the future. A metaphor I like to use is that the OSC is like a racehorse — think ‘Secretariat’ — fit and strong and fully prepared for the challenges that lie ahead, poised to become the core building block in the new national regulator.”

Wilson indicates that he has long been a proponent of a national securities regulator, and says that the progress toward that goal made in the past couple of years, “is a very positive and indeed an impressive achievement by those spearheading the effort.”

Much of the rest of the note is given over to detailing the OSC’s achievements during his five year term, which ends on October 31

The memo indicates that, “the structure, strategic plan and leadership” of the OSC’s enforcement and compliance functions were dramatically changed in the past five years. “A more open culture of communication and collaboration among all of the operating branches at the OSC in the compliance-enforcement continuum has been achieved,” it says.

It stresses that the Ontario regulator “made considerable effort to narrow the historic gap between the enforcement of securities laws and the enforcement of the criminal laws that relate to securities fraud”; although it allows that this hasn’t translated into much progress. “A cautious approach by government ministries when considering reforms to the enforcement of criminal laws related to securities fraud has resulted in modest identifiable progress being made in this area,” the memo says.

The memo also defends the commission’s performance in response to the credit crisis, which was criticized by a legislative committee in a report published earlier this year. And, it touts the OSC’s role in policymaking over the past few years.

In terms of investor protection, it says that, “Protecting investors from fraudulent and misleading practices is the most important element in the OSC’s dual mandate.” On that front, it points out that the OSC increased funding to the Investor Protection Fund, created an internal steering committee to focus on investor issues, and created a new Investor Advisory Panel. (The OSC abandoned its original Investor Advisory Committee after its initial two year term expired.)

IE