On December 22, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its decision on the constitutional reference, stating that the federal government’s proposed national Securities Act was unconstitutional because, viewed in its entirety, the proposed Act included matters that remain essentially provincial concerns. While the SCC stated that elements of the proposed Act were of national concern, it found that the proposed Act overreaches genuine national concerns…

FAIR Canada made a presentation at the OSC’s Policy Hearing on the Maple Group Acquisition Corporation Application to acquire TMX Group Inc., Alpha Trading Systems Limited Partnership, Alpha Trading Systems Inc., The Canadian Depository for Securities Limited and, indirectly, CDS Clearing and Depository Services Inc. (the “Maple Policy Hearing”)…

FAIR Canada has provided comments to the OSC on the proposed OSC staff enforcement initiatives. Over the past year the OSC has intensified its enforcement efforts and these efforts have produced much improved results. Major challenges remain, especially with investigation and prosecution of non-complaint emerging market listed companies. FAIR Canada is concerned that the proposed no-contest settlement program will make it more difficult for investors to recover losses and will not deter corporations and individuals from violating securities laws…

Over the past year the OSC has intensified its enforcement efforts and these efforts have produced much improved results. Major challenges remain especially with investigation and prosecution of emerging market listed companies. OSC staff proposed a number of policy initiatives to enhance it enforcement toolkit in OSC Staff Notice 15-704 (the “Staff Notice”). FAIR Canada has provided comments to the proposed enforcement initiatives…

Jonathan Chevreau of the Financial Post has written some recent articles questioning how sincere the mutual fund industry in Canada is in improving financial literacy given that Canada’s MERs are amongst the highest in the world. While knowledge of fees is improving, many investors are still unaware of the impact of high fees and are wrongly trusting mutual fund salespeople to act in their best interest…

Since our last newsletter on OBSI, FAIR Canada has written an open letter to Minister Flaherty, Canada’s Minister of Finance, in support of OBSI as the single external dispute resolution (EDR) provider for complaints arising from the banking sector. We pointed out that one single EDR provider is necessary in order to avoid fragmentation, inconsistencies, serious potential conflicts of interest, consumer confusion, and to enable the detection of systemic or widespread issues. As stated by OBSI’s Board…