Will the WPC Report have an impact?

The Wise Persons Committee Report "It's Time" was issued December 13th, 2004. It was prepared in response to the MacKay Report calling for a review of the securities industry. There was intense industry input but very little input to present the small investor’s view. SIPA made a submission as did a couple of SIPA members and a couple of investor advocates.
The WPC Report recommends a single Canadian Securities Regulator. This is a position that SIPA supports; however there is sufficient opposition that it is unlikely this would happen in the near future. The Summary of the WPC Report follows:

7. It’s Time

It’s time for Canada to have a single securities regulator. Capital markets around the world are continuing to integrate and become more competitive and important to economic growth and prosperity. Canada is now at a crossroads. Others have moved faster in adapting their regulatory structures in response to these trends. Either we can continue with a fragmented regulatory structure that has served Canada adequately in the past but that is ill suited to current realities, or we can choose to create a regulatory structure that helps Canadian capital markets become a source of comparative advantage in the increasingly competitive global marketplace.

”Canadians should not settle for anything but the best they can achieve.”
Canadian Bankers Association

We believe the choice is clear. Canada cannot afford to stand still. We therefore call on the federal and provincial governments to participate in the creation of the Canadian Securities Commission. Canadians are seeking increased federal-provincial cooperation in addressing important public policy priorities. Both levels of government now have an opportunity to come together and act in the national interest.

Other countries have already done this. In Australia, a federal state with regional diversity and shared constitutional authority over securities regulation, the federal and state governments worked together to create the ASIC, a single securities and market conduct regulator, in recognition of the fact that a single regulator was in Australia’s national interest. We believe the same spirit of collaboration can, and should, animate the creation of the Canadian Securities Commission.

We believe the federal and provincial governments should implement our recommendation without delay.

There is a remarkable momentum for change, shared by capital market participants, governments and regulators. There is an unprecedented opportunity to improve Canada’s securities regulatory structure.

It’s time to act.

... That was December 13th, 2004.