The first national symposium series on Canadian capital markets was hosted on friday by the University of Toronto’s Capital Markets Institute. Particpants heard a range of possible options for regulatory reform

Discussion panels examined the role of the SEC, federal versus state regulation, the merits of regulatory competition, the benefits of harmonization, and reform in Europe and Australia. The aim of the discussions was to come up with a new model for Canada.

Amid a slew of proposals for reforming Canada’s regulatory system, James Scarlett, partner with Toronto law firm, Torys LLP, suggested that the impetus for any major change will have to come from industry players such as issuers and brokers.

The final panel which included Scarlett, B.C. Securities Commission chair Doug Hyndman, Quebec Securities Commission chair Carmen Crépin, and Jeff MacIntosh, director of the Capital Markets Institute. It looked at the role of the Canadian Securities Administrators in efforts to improve Canadian regulation.

While promoting the BCSC’s concept proposals for reform, Hyndman conceded that the regulators themselves don’t have the power to make systemic change. That falls to the country’s politicians, he said. Scarlett suggested that industry players must come together to create the pressure for genuine reform and to actively steer the process.