Source: The Canadian Press

The Ontario Securities Commission has appointed a new leader who will oversee investment activity in the province, as well as guide the body’s integration into a national securities regulator.

Howard Wetston, a former judge who has held various provincial and federal regulatory positions, will replace David Wilson, whose five year term as chairman of Canada’s largest provincial securities regulator ends Oct. 31.

Ontario Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan said Wetston’s experience will help him guide the provincial body through a transitional period as the provincial and federal governments work to integrate Canada’s 13 securities regulator into a single, national body.

“Mr. Wetston’s knowledge and experience in legal, securities, business and economic regulation will serve Ontarians well as we work with the federal government and our provincial partners to create a Canadian securities regulator, which provides best-in-class oversight and investor protection,” he said.

Wetston has been chairman of the Ontario Energy Board since leaving the OSC in 2003. Prior to his first stint with the Ontario Securities Commission, Wetston had a varied career including as a Federal Court Judge from 1993 to 1999.

Outgoing CEO David Wilson said Wetston will be a worthy successor because of his experience with the OSC when he served as its vice-chairman from 1999 to 2003.

“Howard knows the OSC, the quality of its people and its work as an effective securities regulator,” Wilson said in a release.

“I offer my best wishes to him in the role of guiding the OSC through the immediate challenges of regulating the province’s capital markets.”

The OSC plays a key role in overseeing the country’s largest stock exchange and enforcing the province’s securities act.

Wetston will head the provincial regulator as the federal government and several provinces, including Ontario, work towards creating a national body to oversee the industry.

He will work with the Canadian Securities Transition Office to assist in the switch, in addition to his other responsibilities, which include overseeing the OSC’s board of directors and ensuring proper administration and enforcement of the Securities Act.

Canada is the only country in the G20 without a national securities regulator like the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States. In Canada, there are 13 provincial and territorial regulators, which critics say creates regulatory red tape and raises the cost for companies who want to list their shares on Canadian stock markets

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has called Canada’s lack of a national regulator “an embarrassment” because although Canada is considered an economic leader in other areas, it is out of step with the rest of the world when it comes to securities regulation.

Alberta and Quebec are challenging the constitutionality of the plan in their respective appeal courts, and the issue is being dealt with in the Supreme Court of Canada. Both provinces say the federal government would be overstepping its bounds if it were to form a centralized watchdog to oversee all of Canada’s capital markets.

However, Ontario has been a vocal supporter of a national securities regulator and is advocating on behalf of Toronto as its headquarters.