"I am asking the panel to develop a model common securities act to create a Canadian advantage in global capital markets," stated Minister Flaherty. "This effort will build on positive steps taken in recent years by the full range of partners, including provinces, territories and regulators, contributions by private sector groups, and international best practice."

The expert panel will provide independent advice and recommendations to ministers — federal, provincial and territorial — on the best way forward to improve securities regulation in Canada.

The expert panel will be chaired by Tom Hockin, P.C., former Minister of State (Finance) and former president of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada. Also appointed were: Ian D. Bruce, Chief Executive Officer, Peters & Co Limited; Denis Desautels, Executive-in-Residence, University of Ottawa, and former Auditor General of Canada; Hal Kvisle, President and CEO, TransCanada Corporation; Dawn Russell, QC, Associate Professor, former Dean of Law, Dalhousie University; Terry Salman, Chairman, President and CEO, Salman Partners Inc; and Heather Zordel, Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP.

Additionally appointed as special advisors to the panel were: Howard Davies, Director of the London School of Economics and former chairman of the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority (FSA); David Green, Advisor on International Affairs, Financial Reporting Council and former senior executive with the FSA; and Peter W. Hogg, QC, Scholar in Residence at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and professor emeritus, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.

The expert panel has been directed to deliver a final report and draft model securities act to Flaherty, and to provincial and territorial ministers responsible for securities regulation, by the end of 2008.