Ontario Bill 218 introduces amendments to Securities Act
On November 16, the Government of Ontario introduced Bill 218, An Act to implement 2009 Budget measures and to enact, amend or repeal various Acts in the provincial Legislature. Of particular interest, Schedule S of the Bill clarifies that the deeming provisions found in sections 90 and 91 of the Securities Act apply to the “early warning” provisions under sections 102.1 and 102.2 of the Act. Essentially, the amendments clarify that the deeming provisions applicable to offerors in the takeover bid context also apply to aquirors with respect to early warning reporting requirements.
Meanwhile, changes to sections 138.8 and 138.9 of the Act would amend procedures under the secondary market civil liability provisions. Specifically, applicants and appellants would be required to provide notice to the Ontario Securities Commission of various court dates, each party would have to provide the OSC with copies of relevant facta and the OSC would gain the authority to intervene in appeals respecting leave or in an appeal of a decision respecting liability.
The Bill would also amend the situations in which a representative’s registration would be automatically suspended. Under the amendments, a representative would be automatically suspended at the time he or she ceased to have the authority to act on behalf of a registrant in a capacity that required registration by reason of one of the following: (i) the representative’s termination; (ii) the changing of employment functions; or (iii) the change or end of the partnership or agency relationship of the representative with the registrant. Meanwhile, the revocation of registration after an automatic suspension under the Act would be delayed until a proceeding was completed, while the right to a hearing would be extended to those whose registration was suspended automatically under the Act.
