News Release

Vancouver – The British Columbia Securities Commission has increased the level of disclosure for enforcement hearings before the commission.

The commission set the new disclosure standard in making its decision in connection with an application by Timothy Fernback, Brent Wolverton, Wolverton Securities Ltd., and William Massey for disclosure of materials in the possession of the Executive Director. They face a commission hearing in November 2004 into allegations that they participated in a scheme that manipulated the share price of Cinema Internet Networks Inc. in connection with a planned public offering of 1.5-million Cinema shares in late 1999 and early 2000.

In considering the application, the commission panel determined that the appropriate standard for determining the Executive Director’s disclosure obligations is that set out in R. v. Stinchcombe, a 1991 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada. The ruling means that the previous disclosure standard, as set out in the commission’s 1999 decision in Re Cartaway, no longer applies.

In making its decision to replace the disclosure standard, the commission noted that the Cartaway standard was confusing to apply while the Stinchcombe standard, which requires a greater level of disclosure, was now being used for enforcement proceedings under the Ontario Securities Act, and there is no public interest reason not to apply the Stinchcombe standard.

The B.C. Securities Commission is an independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province. The decision can be accessed through the commission’s website www.bcsc.bc.ca or by contacting Andrew Poon, Media Relations, 604-899-6880.