Canada is far less reliant on rules that can be circumvented, TSX Group CEO Barbara Stymiest said Wednesday.

In a speech to the Economic Club of Toronto this morning, Stymiest touted the TSX’s competitiveness, defended its stance on corporate governance policies, and attacked its critics.

Stymiest pointed to the quality of Canada’s corporate governance, particularly its reliance on principles rather than rules.

“And here is where Canada’s great strength lies. We’re far less reliant on rules that can be circumvented, far more reliant on simple, strong principles that are much less forgiving than rules.”

She also attacked those who would criticize the TSX’s commitment to good governance. “I wish Canadian corporate leaders were more willing to speak up against such irresponsible critics.

It’s not just the integrity of the Canadian market that is being attacked.

It’s the integrity of every listed company in our market,” she said. “They have repeatedly declared, all facts to the contrary, that we at TSX Group are against changes in the way Canadian corporations are governed because, they insinuate, we are afraid of losing listings. Well, we value our listed companies.

But we value investors just and much. And we value our integrity more.”

Stymiest pointed to Australia as an example of a market that has refused to follow the U.S. with tougher corporate governance rules, and has brought in different rules for small firms and large ones. “Like Australia, we don’t see different treatment for large and small companies as diluting our reputation, or as a competitive disadvantage. And we don’t see Canada as being disadvantaged if we don’t do what no other country in the world is doing – following Sarbanes-Oxley.”

She took the OSC to task for being slow to approve its changes to its governance rules. She noted that its first set of proposals has been with the OSC for a year. “Our second set was given to the OSC last fall and, as yet, we are still unsure as to when the commission will publish them,” she said. “Just last week, in fact, I wrote to the chair of the OSC, David Brown, emphasizing the importance of responding as soon as possible to the obvious and very real concerns of our issuers over the eventual shape of our governance guidelines.”

Stymiest admitted that Canadian corporations are weak on corporate governance disclosure, and need to improve it. She said that it intends to use disclosure against the non-disclosers. “We intend to review each listed issuer every three years, and publish the overall results of this review. If companies with a failing grade don1t improve their disclosure, we1ll publish their names.

And when the failing is egregious, we refer those companies to the regulators. This approach will give investors the information they need so they can determine for themselves whether the governance of these companies represents too much of a risk for their liking.

If companies won’t inform their investors about their governance practices, in other words, we will.”

On the issue of the TSX’s competitiveness, Stymiest said that the TSX is taking back market share in inter-listed trading, boasting that while in October 2000 U.S. exchanges took over 60% of the trading by value in Canadian inter-listed stocks, now the TSX is taking close to 65%.

“The corporate Cassandras who write of decline, not just for us but for corporate Canada, are stuck, in a swamp of old research that had dubious validity even when it was new and fresh,” she said.

She argued that the TSX is one of the most efficient, lowest cost and liquid stock exchanges in the world. And, she touted its leadership as a market for mining issuers. She also talked up Canadian historical returns compared to U.S. returns, and the climate for biotechs in Canada.