News Release

Vancouver – The B.C. Securities Commission has launched a cross-Canada tour to canvass what the national securities industry and investors think about the commission’s deregulation concepts, which include replacing the prospectus and providing new rights to protect investors.

Two Vancouver sessions -- the first of seven over the next two weeks – are being held Thursday and Friday at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, part of Simon Fraser University’s downtown campus. Additional sessions are scheduled for Calgary (March 12), Winnipeg (March 14), Toronto (March 18-19) and Montreal (March 22).

“These consultation sessions will give us the opportunity to discuss our concepts with industry, investors and our fellow regulators,” said Brent Aitken, a commissioner leading B.C.’s nine-member deregulation team. “We look forward to answering their questions and hearing their initial comments on the ideas, so we can refine and develop them further.”

The Vancouver sessions cover four issues raised in the commission’s Deregulation Concept Paper released last month. Replacing the prospectus (8-10 a.m.) and simplifying registration (1-3 p.m.) are discussed in forums Thursday while new rights to protect investors and better mutual fund regulation are the focus of forums scheduled for the same time slots on Friday.

After completing the first round of consultation, the commission’s deregulation team will conduct focus group research with key industry players to further explore their views on the commission’s deregulation concepts.

“One of the goals of this national tour is to share our view that the major problems with securities regulation – including the excessive regulatory burden on industry – can’t be solved by merely creating a national securities commission.

“Lack of uniformity is part of the problem, but the bigger burden industry faces is that there are too many rules that are too complex, too rigid and change too often,” Aitken said.

“Uniformity by itself won’t solve this problem. We need both uniformity and simplification.”

The commission’s Deregulation Concept Paper, as well as ways to respond to the concepts in writing, can be found on the commission’s website at www.bcsc.bc.ca The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts within the province.