INFORMATION BULLETIN

2009FIN0011-000332 September 15, 2009

Ministry of Finance

 

AMENDMENTS WILL PROTECT INVESTORS AND COMPLY WITH TILMA

 

VICTORIA – New legislation to improve investor protection, make financial services sector legislation consistent with the Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) between British Columbia and Alberta, and speed up government payments was introduced in the Legislature today as Bill 5, the Finance Statutes Amendment Act, 2009.

 

TILMA took full force April 1, 2009, reducing and eliminating barriers to the free movement of workers, goods, services and investments between the two provinces. TILMA will save businesses money by cutting red tape and expand employment opportunities by enhancing labour mobility.

 

Amendments include:

 

Business Corporations Act, Cooperative Association Act and Partnership Act – Amendments to these three acts will clarify and enhance regulation-making powers for filing registry records and enable one-stop filing for Alberta and B.C. enterprises doing business in both provinces.

 

Business Number Act – The amendments will enable the Office of the Comptroller General to use the single business number system to verify the identity of suppliers and the accuracy of their payment information, which will improve the timeliness and accuracy of government payments and reporting requirements.

 

Financial Institutions Act – Insurance company licensing requirements in the Financial Institutions Act will be amended to be consistent with TILMA. Currently, the act only requires insurers that are carrying on insurance business within B.C. have a business licence. With the amendments, insurance companies located outside of British Columbia will also be required to have a licence if they insure property or persons based in B.C., unless an exemption applies. 

 

Mortgage Brokers Act – The B.C. registrar of mortgage brokers will have new powers to protect consumers and take action against non-compliant mortgage brokers, including those who may be conducting business from Alberta.

 

Securities Act – The amendments will improve investor protection by providing a legislative framework to govern the Canadian Public Accountability Board’s (CPAB) supervision of auditors who audit public companies and permit the BC Securities Commission to oversee the CPAB.

 

 

 

 

More information on TILMA is available at www.tilma.ca and on the Ministry of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development website at: www.gov.bc.ca/tted.

 

-30-

 

Contact:

Graham Currie Ministry of Finance Communications Director 250 356-2821

For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.