Securities Regulators' Mandate and the Public Interest Power

• Author: Anita Indira Anand
• Pages: 26-32

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 3

Securities Regulators’ Mandate and the

Public Interest Power

Background

The previous chapters outline some reasons why investors need

protection when they engage with the capital markets. The need for

investor protection is one of the driving forces in Canada behind a

legal system called “securities regulation.” For constitutional rea-

sons, it is the job of the provinces to regulate in the area of “secur-

ities.” This word refers to a broad category of nancial products,

including stocks and bonds, through which an investor puts money

into some enterprise, such as a corporation, with the expectation of

gaining a prot from its eorts. Each province has its own secur-

ities regulator, and these bodies coordinate their eorts through

the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA).

Ontario’s regulator, called the Ontario Securities Commission

(OSC), is responsible for the deepest capital markets in the country.

Specically, the OSC’s job is “to protect investors, foster fair and e-

cient markets, and contribute to the stability of the nancial system

by making and enforcing rules governing the securities industry

1 Securities regulation falls within the provincial jurisdiction over property and civil

rights: see Reference re Securities Act, 2011 SCC 66. See also Constitution Act, 1867,

30 & 31 Vict, c 3, s 92(13) reprinted in RSC 1985, Appendix II, No 5. I discuss the

issues created by this constitutional allocation of power in detail in Chapter 11.