Quebec reaffirms opposition to national securities regulator

Date: Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Author: Investment Executive

Ahead of the meeting of finance ministers in PEI, Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand has called on the federal government to halt work on a national securities regulator until the courts have ruled on its constitutionality.

On Friday, Bachand indicated that he will reaffirm Quebec’s opposition to the federal government’s plans to legislate in an area that it believes is within provincial jurisdiction.

“Since the case is now before the Quebec Court of Appeal, the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, out of respect for the courts and to avoid further complicating the situation, I believe the federal government should suspend the work of the Canadian Securities Regulation Regime Transition Office until the courts have released their opinion on the Parliament of Canada’s authority to pass securities legislation,” Bachand said.

Additionally, Bachand will highlight that the economic recovery is well underway in Quebec and that economic activity is even stronger than anticipated.

“However, we must remain cautious when the economic situation in Europe and the U.S. still shows signs of difficulties. In this context, it is important to complete the economic stimulus measures announced for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011,” he added.

Banchand also called on the ministers to begin working a new legislation dealing with federal transfers, as these are due to expire by March 31, 2014, and the federal parliament must pass new legislation by then. For the provinces to be able to assess the changes that could affect their financial framework as of 2014-2015, Bachand believes that the broad outline of the next renewal of these transfers must be known by the winter of 2013. And so he recommends that the finance departments be mandated to begin this work by developing a work plan that will be submitted for discussion at the next conference of finance ministers, by the end of the year.

On pensions, Quebec says reform options should continue to find ways to encourage increased savings.

“In Quebec, the main issues are to encourage savings, ensure that existing pension plans are in good financial shape and ensure that pension plans encourage workers to remain in the labour market as long as possible. In this context, the Quebec government has set up a national commission with the primary mandate of proposing changes to existing policies and possibly to institutions to increase labour market participation, in particular among those aged 55 or over,” Bachand added.