Quebec views the existing framework for securities regulation as the only viable alternative says Pierre Godin, chair of the Quebec Securities Commission.

Speaking at the Investment Dealers Association annual conference in St. Andrew’s by-the-Sea, N.B. Tuesday, Godin indicated that Quebec simply will not entertain the idea of a federal model. He said that this position has not changed with the recent elections there.

Godin also indicated that the pan-Canadian model is also a non-starter because there is no answer as to how a regulator operating under this structure would be accountable. It would either have to answer, as the system does now, to the provincial finance ministers, or to a single, federal minister, and Quebec is not interested in entertaining any federal proposal. The pan-Canadian model was first proposed by David Brown, chair of the Ontario Securities Commission.

Godin suggested that the existing system, improved and harmonized through the Canadian Securities Administrators is the route that the QSC prefers.

As for the prospect of legal delegation between the provinces, Godin noted that this is actually easier under Quebec law than in most other jurisdictions. However, he would not commit himself to the idea of wholesale delegation. Instead, he suggested that delegation could be considered on an issue-by-issue basis.

The QSC has commissioned research that Godin says will be released in the next couple of weeks. He says that it indicates that the costs of Canada’s duplicative system are not nearly as great as often assumed. The QSC hopes to put some hard numbers on the rumours.

Notably, the IDA has also commissioned a survey that suggests that about $73 million could be saved annually under a single regulator model, assuming that the commissions’ surpluses were also eliminated.

Godin says he looks forward to comparing numbers with the IDA when the QSC is ready to release his survey.