Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW

Categories: Capital Read, Inkless Wells

Hey look: a column, and a debate about what it says, if anything

by Paul Wells on Friday, October 23, 2009 4:44pm - 39 Comments

From the print edition, this week’s column, which is about Stephen Harper’s surprise reference to the Supreme Court of Canada on a national securities regulator. An excellent bonus is the debate that then breaks out in the comments board, over whether I’m a threat or just a menace. All sides use direct quotations from the column to prove a bewildering succession of contradictory points of view. That wasn’t the effect I was seeking, but it remains kind of entertaining.

Tags: self-promotion, words that rhyme with Brechtian

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Jesse A

The national vision versus economic union idea is very interesting. I actually like the national economic programs that Harper is pushing. Hell, if he started arguing for it it would make me more likely to vote for him! But I am interested in the idea that it is being done at the expense of the social union. To me having the economic power allows one to dictate the social realm. And by centralizing economic decision making in Ottawa the ability to more effectively enforce social programs/national vision will follow.
Orson Bean

OntarioTown's post is somewhat misleading. A huge number of the key rules that most public companies in Canada have to deal with have already been harmonized (e.g., the core prospectus rules, the core continuous disclosure rules, rules on corporate governance, audit committees, etc.). I'm a securities lawyer, I'm not opposed to single national regulator, as long as there are firm guarantees of strong regional offices in places like Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal (so that a market participant in Vancouver doesn't face the prospect of trying to phone the regulator at 3pm Vancouver time, only to find that everyone in Toronto who can make a decision has gone home). But a lot of the discussion that goes on gives people the impression that there are 13 radically different sets of rules right now in each of the provinces in Territories, which is simply a bunch of BS.