OSC seeks power to make own rules

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has recommended to a provincial task force that it be granted rule-making powers, although any new regulation could still be vetoed by the Ontario government.

The recommendation by commission staff was made to a task force created last October to deal with a regulatory impasse created by a provincial court decision, Canadian Press reports.

According to that decision (by Judge Robert Blair of the Ontario Court, General Division), the OSC did not have jurisdiction to regulate the province’s penny-stock dealers by simply issuing a policy binding on the whole sector.

In its submission, the OSC said the new rule-making powers would be a “formalization of what generally has been acknowledged to be an effective mechanism for securities regulation and policy formation” until the penny-stock dealers’ successful court challenge.

The OSC would continue to carry out public consultation before introducing any regulatory changes, although it wants to reserve the right to waive such a process “in appropriate circumstances.”