Kudos to the Ontario Securities Commission for responding to demands for a new investor advisory committee. The challenge, from both sides of the Street, will be making that effort a meaningful one.

The planned return of an IAC is surely welcome news for investor advocates. They have been campaigning for its revival ever since the original committee was allowed to expire. Moreover, the Canadian Securities Transition Office has been working on a similar body for the proposed national regulator, indicating that the demand has gained some traction within the regulatory community, as well.

Yet, given the uncertainty about whether this latest push for a national regulator will actually succeed, it is encouraging that, in the meantime, the OSC will be forming a panel of its own to improve investor access and input.

But the real challenge will be getting the execution to match the promise. The timing of this latest announcement feels disturbingly similar to the OSC’s first go-round with an IAC. That panel got its start just as the previous OSC chair was leaving the commission. It was dropped in the lap of the incoming administration, and appeared to become a bit of an orphan at the OSC. This new panel is also being unveiled as the current chair’s term winds down. Let’s hope it isn’t similarly orphaned as a result.

To succeed, these sorts of projects generally need a champion within the regulator. And those can be hard to come by, particularly when the project is rooted in a previous administration. It’s even trickier when the task involves ordinary investors, who can be a hassle to deal with for an organization composed of lawyers and other professionals. Investors aren’t a uniform population. They don’t have the same background and experience. They don’t speak legalese — or think like lawyers, either.

But, understanding investors — and their needs — is something that regulators need to get better at. There’s also a challenge here for investors: they have to be more focused and methodical. Too often, investor advocates’ attempts to communicate with regulators are rambling and incoherent; as a result, their valid points get lost in their jumbled messages.

The news of a planned IAC is certainly welcome, but the regulators and investor advocates are going to have to fight hard to make it meaningful.