About the Commission

Mandate

The Commission's securities industry mandate is to act in the public interest to protect Manitoba investors and to facilitate the raising of capital while maintaining fairness and integrity in the securities marketplace. Similarly, its real estate industry mandate is to regulate brokers, salespeople, and mortgage dealers to ensure adequate standards are maintained for the protection of the public. The Commission performs the following activities:

In order to fulfill this mandate the Commission is responsible for the following:

• review and process applications for registration, including administrative hearings where required to determine whether registration is in the public interest;
• maintain a public registry of persons registered to trade in the capital markets or real estate markets in the province;
• public education to provide both information about potentially illegal activity and to help members of the public understand the issues and inform themselves to make appropriate investment decisions;
• grant or deny exemptions from requirements of the legislation as appropriate;
• ensure that take-over bids are carried out in accordance with the prescribed rules;
• review prospectuses for financial and legal adherence to the securities regulations;review new products for financial and legal adherence to the securities regulations;
• investigate breaches of legislation and regulation exercising the power of search, the power to compel evidence, seize records and the power to freeze assets;
• hold administrative hearings to deny, suspend or cancel a registration under statutes administered by the Commission, or to deny a member of the public the right to participate in the capital markets in Manitoba;
• act as Crown Counsel in prosecutions;
• development of policy, rules and legislation;
• oversee activities of organizations such as the Winnipeg Stock Exchange and The Winnipeg Commodity Exchange;
• ensure that public companies and registrants provide continuous disclosure of information; and
• participate in national and international organizations, including the CSA and the North American Securities Administrators Association, to ensure that the concerns and issues related to the operation of capital markets in Manitoba are communicated to other jurisdictions and prevent the interests of larger markets from prejudicing capital market activity in Manitoba.

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Our Mission

The role and mission of the commission is to protect the public interest by facilitating dynamic and competitive capital and real estate markets that contribute to the economic development of Manitoba while fostering public confidence in those markets.

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Commission Profile

The Commission was structured in its present form in 1968 as set out in The Securities Act. The Commission is divided into two branches or arms.

The actual Commission is a body that meets regularly (usually weekly) to deal with policy formulation, applications seeking exemptive relief or other relief and which performs a quasi-judicial function in the hearing of charges laid under several Acts and for relief or directions. The Commission (including the Chairman) is appointed by order-in-council.

The functional arm of the Commission is made up of full time employees of the provincial government and conducts the day-to-day operations including registrations, processing of applications and prospectuses, preparing matters for referral to the Commissioners and conducting investigations, prosecutions and other hearings. The functional arm of the Commission is comprised of two operating units: the Securities division and the Real Estate division. The Securities division is comprised of corporate finance, capital markets, legal, enforcement, and finance and administrative areas.

The Chairman who chairs the meetings and is the Chief Executive Officer of the functional arm of the Commission heads the Commission. A management committee that meets regularly at the call of the Chairman provides management direction. The management committee is comprised of the Chairman, the Director of Corporate Finance & Capital Markets and C.A.O., and the Director of Legal & Enforcement and the Secretary to the Commission.

The Chairman of the Commission reports to the legislature through the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.

The Securities Advisory Committee and The Real Estate Advisory Council have been established for industry input in the areas of securities and real estate.  These committees meet regularly to consider important issues and provide advice to the Commission. 

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