The Alberta Securities Commission today released the results of its review of the Alberta capital market, which places Alberta second only to Ontario in terms of aggregate public company market capitalization.

The ASC says the Alberta Capital Market Project is intended to focus and enhance its regulatory efforts by providing the commission with better insights into the capital market it regulates.

This first part of a multi-phase project consists of an overview of Canadian issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and the TSX Venture Exchange. Measured by market capitalization, the largest provincial markets are Ontario ($531 billion or 45%), Alberta ($210 billion or 18%), Quebec ($167 billion or 14%) and British Columbia ($64 billion or 5%).

The report reveals that the four major Canadian markets also represent different industry focus. The primary industries in each are:

  • Alberta — oil and gas, followed by industrial;
  • B.C. — mining followed by technology;
  • Ontario — financial services, mining and industrial; and
  • Quebec — industrial and mining.

Specifically, the principal industries in which Alberta- based public companies are engaged are oil & gas (40%), industrial (15%), mining (11%), and technology (10%). While Alberta’s primary industry –oil and gas– makes up only 12% of Canadian public companies, it represents a full 20% of the aggregate Canadian market cap.

“It’s no surprise that oil and gas is the primary industry in Alberta,” said Stephen Sibold, chairman, ASC, in a release. “What’s more surprising, though, is how solidly Alberta ranks as the second largest capital market in Canada and how strongly the statistics indicate the differences among provincial capital markets.”

According to the ASC, the report provides evidence of a truly multi-tiered market in Canada. It says Canada’s public equity market consists of a large number of small companies, but also a significant number of mid-size and very large companies. For example, although Alberta has roughly half the number of issuers on the TSX as it has on the TSX-VEN, the aggregate market capital of the larger TSX issuers represents 98% of the total market cap of Alberta based issuers.

“With this multi-tiered market,” said Sibold, “it would be appropriate for Canadian securities regulators, in developing securities policy, to consider the suitability of proportionate regulation.”

A full copy of the report is available on the ASC web site.