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Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York:

Last week, Canada's Supreme Court nixed an attempt by the Canadian government to create a national securities regulator. According to the Court, a national securities regulator is unconstitutional and took too much power away from provincial governments. The ruling has puzzled both government officials and financial professionals.

The ruling was the result of a challenge to the proposed regulator outlined in the Canadian Securities Act by provinces, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Québec. Lower courts in both Albert and Québec ruled the Act unconstitutional, prompting the need for an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court.

The Act was originally proposed by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, and was designed to fill a substantial gap in Canada's regulatory landscape. Currently, each province has its own regulatory authority creating in essence, ten different markets with ten different sets of requirements. Both government officials and the finance community have been calling for a national regulator and a more uniform, streamlined regulatory environment across the country for several years.

However, some of Canada's most independent provinces disagree. Québec, which has been pushing for independence for years put up the strongest opposition to the creation of any overarching national office that would usurp its local regulatory power.

The opinion was particularly strong in its wording, to wit: "the dominant......................

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