INTRODUCTION TO DECOMMISSIONED

 

The theme of my previous books has been the individual versus the institutions. Whenever an institution is established someone is going to attempt to subvert it. My early books disclosed the situation where after the establishment of income tax in Canada, the rich subverted that by moving their income out of Canada.

 

The irony is that institutions that are established were put in place to better the lives of the citizenry. So we have anti-prostitution laws that gave rise to pimps; then there were drug laws which gave us drug gangs and who can forget prohibition that gave us bootleggers like Al Capone. Without prohibition Al Capone would have remained an insignificant street thug. However, like the pimps and drug dealers Capone saw opportunity arising out of legislation.

 

Another form of abusing legislation is regulator capture. Again legislation is put in place to protect the individual and the regulated take that disadvantage and turn it to their benefit. What you will see in this book is that with the entry of the Canadian banks into the investment industry the regulator of that industry has dispensed with regulating the investment business and moved to protecting the near monopoly that the banks have in the securities business.

 

Unlike pimping and bootlegging regulator capture is not a result of a deliberate effort to subvert a system. It is the slow erosion of boundaries to allow for efficiency. Once the confrontational aspect of industry regulation is put aside both the regulator and the regulated can exist in a comfortable laissez faire environment.

 

As should have been expected, the entry of the banks to the securities business brought a unified powerful force into the industry unlike the miniscule brokerages of previous decades. The Pitfield, MacKay, Ross type of firm of old could never have moved the securities regulators into seeing the industry through the lens of the brokers, but the all powerful banks could and did. The brokers now operate the regulatory system through their own vehicle leaving the Ontario Securities Commission sidelined.

 

The end result is that the Ontario Securities Commission is underemployed and as a result become dangerous. It has at its disposal laws which are a antipathetic to the basic tenants of justice. If aroused, the Commission will use those laws to harass you, your family and friends. In this book you will read of a case study of such harassment. In many cases names had to be withheld first because the Ontario Securities Act allows the Commission to hide behind secret investigations. Secondly, anyone working in the investment industry is terrified to have their name mentioned in any discussion of the Ontario Securities Commission for fear of retribution. The Commission has enacted a reign of terror over industry participants. This book hopes to end that terrorism.