Canadian securities regulation

Canadian securities regulation is managed through the laws and agencies established by Canada's 10 provincial and 3 territorial governments. Each province and territory has a securities commission or equivalent authority with its own provincial or territorial legislation.^{[citation needed]}

Unlike other major federations, Canada has no securities regulatory authority at the federal government level. Nonetheless, most provincial security commissions operate under a passport system, so that approval of one commission essentially allows for registration in another province. However, concerns about the system remain. For example, Ontario (Canada's largest capital market) does not participate in the passport regimen.

Securities regulators from each province and territory have joined to form the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA).

Concerns about the provincial system of securities regulation have led to repeated calls for a national securities system in Canada. As of June 2021, the Canadian government is working towards establishing a national securities regulatory system to provide:

Each provincial securities regulator is either a self-funded commission or an entity funded within a larger government department. Regulators (and their respective parent departments, if any) for each province include:

Canada has no securities regulatory authority at the federal government level. Instead, each province and territory has a securities commission or equivalent authority and legislation. Provincial governments established regulatory agencies beginning with Manitoba in 1912; two decades later, the Privy Council of Canada decided in Lymburn v Mayland [1932] AC 318, that such legislation is authorized under the provincial property and civil rights power.

Each provincial securities regulator is either a self-funded commission or an entity funded within a larger government department, typically under the respective Justice department. The securities regulator administers the province's securities legislation and, correspondingly, promulgates its own set of rules and regulations. The regulator relies on the work of the national self-regulatory organization—the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO)—for most aspects of the regulation of the organization's member firms and their employees. Accountability for securities regulation extends from the securities regulator to the Minister responsible for securities regulation and, ultimately, the legislature in each province.

The largest of the provincial regulators is the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). Other significant local regulators are the Alberta Securities Commission, British Columbia Securities Commission, and the Autorité des marchés financiers (Québec).