The Ontario Government has named a new chairman to head it’s panel to advance the design of a common securities regulator. Purdy Crawford is replacing Ron Daniels at the helm of the group.

Daniels was tapped to lead the group back in February, but he has since been named Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. He starts that job July 1, and so is not leading the panel that was scheduled to report by June 30.

“We’re very pleased that Purdy Crawford has agreed to chair the panel,” said Matthew Ruttan, spokesman for Management Board Chairman Gerry Phillips. The Management Board has yet to announce the panel’s other members and a new deadline.

The government said that one of the issues it will be looking at is separating the regulator’s adjudicative function from its other functions. The Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs recommended that split in conjunction with a single regulator last autumn. “Consequently, this is one of the issues that we have asked the panel to consider in the context of a single regulator,” Ruttan said.

The SCFEA also recommended that the government establish a task force to review the role of self-regulatory organizations. “We have begun the necessary background work and will be moving forward on this recommendation later this year,” Ruttan added.