Finance Minister Joe Oliver has announced that Saskatchewan and New Brunswick are joining British Columbia, Ontario in Ottawa’s proposal for a voluntary securities regulator.

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“Today is a landmark day as the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory System gains two valuable new members … into this nation building project,” Oliver told said.

• Saskatchewan to join Ottawa’s effort to create a single securities regulator

“Together, Ontario, B.C., Saskatchewan and New Brunswick represent more than half of the market capitalization of the listed Canadian companies on the TSX and TSX Venture,” Oliver said.

Finance Minister Joe Oliver is expected to announce Wednesday at 9 a.m. ET that Saskatchewan has signed on to the federal government’s effort to create a single national regulator for stock trading. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Although the two provinces only add approximately three or four per cent of the country’s total market capitalization, it is a symbolic victory for promoters of the single regulator because there is now a subscribing province from every region.

To secure their participation, Ottawa promised Saskatchewan and New Brunswick some concessions, including a cash payment equivalent to the five years worth of net revenues the provinces would have brought in had they continued operating their own regulators. 

Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island remain opposed to the initiative.

More to come