Financial Services Reform in Canada: The Evolution of Policy Dissension

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of financial services regulation in Canada, focussing on developments in the 1980s. Despite market and international pressures toward increased regulatory harmonization within nation-states, financial services regulation in Canada emerged less harmonized than any time in the postwar period. It argues that regulatory reform was drawn into the vortex of federal-provincial conflict. Interest associations representing the various market groups lacked a consensus on the changes needed. In addition, different levels of government were attached to particular types of financial firms. Consequently, regulation and supervision of financial services became more fragmented in Canada. The article concludes with some suggestions for changes based on the European Economic Community model.