Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  I understand. It is a little like in other areas. First, you do a feasibility study. When you are working on the feasibility study, you do not necessarily have an idea of the costs of stage 2 or stage 3. You are just developing a proposal. Eventually, the proposal has to be quantified and developed much more precisely.

Finance committee  Many people will perhaps say that this money should not be committed and the federal government should simply move forward. Right now, in the Senate, Senator Grafstein's private member's bill suggests simply moving ahead and doing it. But our minister prefers to see what proposals can be made to the provinces that might secure their agreement.

Finance committee  Or it may mean that, with very harmonized legislation and common legislation, there does not have to be an insurmountable gap.

Finance committee  Our minister is also convinced that there is always room for discussion, for on-going discussion and for providing his counterparts with concrete proposals.

Finance committee  It's a fair question, which would be best addressed to the Government of Ontario. I can only presume the position is founded on a conviction that somehow, if there is a better regulatory system for Canada writ large, it would benefit Canada's capital markets and ultimately will benefit all the jurisdictions, including Ontario.

Finance committee  That's a good question. I don't have an update on the numbers, and I think you're quite right that a number of factors are at play in this chart, including Sarbanes-Oxley, and including the bursting of the dot-com bubble, which is in here as well. I think what the chart was intended to show is, first, to draw out the fact that these various exchanges are in a competitive field; and second, to draw out the success of London, which has pursued a more principles-based approach to regulation, which we think has considerable merit.

Finance committee  That is a good question. I have no figures for the honourable member. The initial program is to study a proposal. We have asked an expert panel to suggest ways in which a transition could be made. Certainly, the change cannot be made overnight; there will have to be a transition of some sort.

Finance committee  The minister has no wish to give ethics lessons to anyone, I feel, and I certainly do not. But I still feel that a number of people in the past have expressed the view that the regulatory structure in Canada can be improved. Even the Government of Quebec recognizes this to the extent that it is involved in a program to improve regulation through the passport system.

Finance committee  I did not say that the government of Quebec recognized the program, but that it recognized the need to improve regulation. Clearly, at the moment, it is choosing another way to work towards this improvement.

Finance committee  There are three parts to your question. Let me start with the first.

Finance committee  No, I will leave him out. The Vincent Lacroix case is indeed a feather in Quebec's cap. But you will agree that it does not deal with Canadian securities law, a matter that your predecessor as critic raised. This is a real concern with which all jurisdictions in Canada have to come to grips.

Finance committee  That is correct, Mr. Chairman. In 2003, at the time of the establishment of the Wise Persons’ Committee, some funds were allocated to the committee itself, but also to the Department of Finance to support its own work of regulatory reform in the domain of securities. Of the $2.8 million you see in the estimates for 2008-09, $1.8 million is allocated to the panel and $1 million is allocated to the Department of Finance for its own work on securities regulation, supporting the minister in his own work, doing analysis for the minister, advising on consultations with provinces, and so forth.

Finance committee  Sure. There is no strict ongoing role with regard to the panel. What we have done is allocate resources to the panel from departmental finance staff; it's usually an executive director. These people now report to the panel. The executive director also reports to me because he's still an employee of the Department of Finance, but in a day-to-day kind of world, they are dealing with the panel, and, as indicated by Mr.

Finance committee  The government has held that a common securities regulator would assist in strengthening the enforcement effort on securities laws in Canada.