OTTAWA—A stock market regulator for Canada — headquartered in Toronto — is to be unveiled by federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver and Ontario counterpart Charles Sousa on Wednesday.

Ontario, British Columbia and the federal government have been working for months to lay the groundwork for a single securities watchdog network, tentatively called the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory (CCMR) system.

A senior Ontario government official confirmed Tuesday night that the regulator juggernaut was gaining steam with Saskatchewan and New Brunswick signing on.

“It’s a provincial-led initiative. Ontario and B.C. worked the phones to get other provinces to join,” the official said.

“Tomorrow will see the fruits of their labour with Saskatchewan and New Brunswick joining.”

The common regulator will administer a single set of stock market regulations designed to uphold investors’ interests, support efficient capital markets and manage system-wide risk, the three governments said in a background document released when they agreed in September 2013 to establish the system.

“A co-operative securities regulator based in Toronto will provide increased protection for investors, strengthen the competitiveness of Canada’s economy, lower costs and enhance the reputation of Canada’s financial services sector leading to more jobs and growth,” Sousa said at the time.

The federal government has been striving for years to bring more provinces into the newly conceived network, which is meant to address what many see as the weak regulatory environment created by having separate securities regulators in each province and territory.

Establishing a common national securities regulator was a personal crusade of former finance minister Jim Flaherty. But the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2011 that a single Canadian stock market watchdog agency would intrude on the constitutional jurisdiction of the provinces.

But the court also said Ottawa has a duty to work with the provinces to scrutinize investment practices to protect investors from national market risks.

Flaherty responded by moving to set up a voluntary system that would include Ottawa and any participating province. Although Ontario and B.C. agreed to join with Ottawa to create the new watchdog, two key provinces — Quebec and Alberta — have consistently rejected the idea.

As outlined last year, the new regulator will have an executive head office in Toronto and a nationally integrated executive management team. There will be a regulatory office located in every participating province.

Ottawa and the provinces will establish a uniform set of securities laws to be adopted by each participating province and territory. And federal legislation will address criminal matters and issues related to system-wide risks on capital markets.

The new regulator will administer both the provincial and federal securities laws under authority delegated by each participating jurisdiction, according to the background information released last year. Oversight of the CCMR system will be handled by a Council of Ministers representing participating provinces.

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Oliver, a former director of the Ontario Securities Commission and head of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, has said he’s seen first-hand the inefficiencies of the current system of 13 provincial and territorial regulators.

“The result is added cost, regulatory uncertainty, weakened enforcement and uneven oversight of systemic risk,” he said recently.

Oliver has said he expects the new regulatory system to be well on its way to being operational in a year or so even if not every province takes part.

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