Moose Pastures and Mergers: The Ontario Securities Commission and the Regulation of Share Markets in Canada, 1940–1980. By Christopher Armstrong. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001. Pp. x, 424. $60.00.

Abstract

Christopher Armstrong's book is concerned with a topic of remarkable timeliness following the wave of financial scandals—Enron et al.—which shook the American economy in 2002. The timing of the book could not have been better as it deals with crucial issues: information asymmetries, investor protection against manipulations of information, scope and type of regulation needed to insure “full, true, plain disclosure,” and the behavior and ethics of brokers, promoters, and other insiders. The fact that it covers Ontario in the four decades since World War II shows that the issues are perennial and never likely to be outmoded.