Alberta has signalled its intention not to acquiesce in Canadian federal plans to form a single 'collaborative' securities regulator out of a disparate set of provincial bodies.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau declared his commitment to such a plan, which originated under the previous Conservative government that regisned after an election in October put the Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau into power. The first attempt to centralise regulation was dashed in a Supreme Court decision in 2011, securities regulation being the constitutional preserve of the provinces and not the federal Government.

The centralsing impulse has been persistent since then, however. In August, according to the Globe and Mail, the governments of British Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Yukon produced a Capital Markets Bill that each wanted to pilot through its own legislature, with the aim of pooling their responsibilities in a new regulator. The idea was to do this by the autumn of 2016.

Alberta's finance minister, Joe Ceci, told reporters that his province's oil-based economy was 'unique' and that its regulators had 'street-level knowledge' that a national regulator would lack. His ministry has, incidentally, just appointed the lawyer Stan Magidson as chairman and chief executive officer of the Alberta Securities Commission.

In the meantime, a month or two before the participating provinces produced their bill, the province of Quebec began a battle in the courts to keep securities regulation provincial. Alberta's Ceci is reportedly thinking of doing the same. The central government remains determined to press on.

The 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada are responsible for securities regulations. Securities regulators from each province and territory have already teamed up to form the Canadian Securities Administrators, a voluntary outfit that tries to standardise their approach to securities regulation across the country. It helps them share ideas and work at designing policies and regulations that are consistent across the country with a focus on avoiding the duplication of work and streamlining the regulatory 'experience' for people who work in the investment industry.

In recent years, the CSA has developed the “passport system" through which a market participant has access to markets in all passport jurisdictions by dealing only with its principal regulator and complying with one set of harmonized laws. The CSA's website states that its main effect on most Canadians comes through its efforts to educate them about the securities industry, the stock markets and how to protect investors from investment scams.