Canada’s securities regulators have decided not to make any changes to corporate governance rules in light of the turbulent market and economic environment, the Canadian Securities Administrators said Friday.

Last December, the CSA published proposed changes to the corporate governance regime for comment. Friday CSA published a staff notice, indicating that it has concluded that “now is not an appropriate time to introduce significant changes to Canada’s corporate governance regime”.

The CSA reports that it received numerous comments about the timing of the proposal, which noted that issuers “are currently focused on business sustainability issues, given the challenging economic climate, and on the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards”.

“Based on the comments received, we do not intend to implement the proposal as originally published. We do not believe that now is the right time to make such changes,” said Jean St-Gelais, CSA chair and president & CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers. “We are reconsidering whether to recommend any changes to the corporate governance regime.”

Any further proposed changes to the regime would not be considered until the 2011 proxy season at the earliest, the CSA adds.