Another domino has fallen, albeit a small one, in the push to create a national securities regulator, with the news that Prince Edward Island has decided to join the so-called Cooperative Capital Markets Regulator (CCMR) System.
The federal Department of Finance said Thursday that PEI has signed a memorandum of agreement to participate in the cooperative regulator, along with British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and the federal government. The participants are aiming to launch the new authority by the fall of 2015.
Last month, the participating governments proposed drafts of uniform provincial legislation that aims to modernize and harmonize existing provincial legislation, along with complementary federal legislation, which would, among other things, empower the cooperative system to collect data and oversee systemic risk on a national basis. Those drafts are out for comment until Nov. 7.
In addition to the underlying legislation needed to create the new authority, the rules that the CCMR would administer are also currently being drafted.
The participating jurisdictions say that they will continue to push the remaining provinces and territories to join the cooperative effort. So far, Alberta and Quebec have declared their opposition to the plan, while the other provinces have yet to say whether or not they intend to join.
Long-standing supporter of the idea of a national regulator, the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC) is applauding the news as “yet another positive step” toward reforming the regulatory framework. “With more than half of domestic capital market activity under the CCMRS umbrella, pressure on the outlying provinces is only going to intensify in the coming months,” suggested IIAC president and CEO, Ian Russell, in a statement.
“The addition of PEI makes the CCMRS that much closer to reality. The remaining outlying provinces need to consider their decision to join in terms of an operational cooperative regulator rather than the status quo ante,” he added.