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Doug HyndmanDEBORAH BAIC

Ten of Canada's provinces and territories have appointed representatives to a new federal committee working to develop a national securities regulator, but Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta remain major holdouts to the federal plan.

The federal Finance Department said the committee will provide advice to a transition office led by former British Columbia Securities Commission chairman Doug Hyndman to ensure participating governments' interests are represented as the design of a new national regulator is developed.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a release Thursday that the participation of the provinces and territories is "critical" to ensure the new regulator meets the needs of all regions.

"I am encouraged and excited by the widespread participation of the provinces and territories," Mr. Flaherty said.

Mr. Hyndman told a business audience in September the provinces and territories nominating representatives to the committee do not have to commit to joining a national regulator. He said no province will have to make a decision until the model is designed next year and they can assess its merits.

But he said the hope is that participating members will be able to design a system that meets their needs, and will then agree to become members.

"The objective is to give provinces sufficient certainty about what the regulator will look like so they can join in," he said in his remarks.

It is little surprise the three holdout provinces did not nominate representatives to the committee, having all previously expressed reservations about a national regulator. Indeed, Quebec has threatened to sue the federal government over the proposal, arguing it is trampling on the provinces' jurisdiction over securities regulation.

The representatives to the advisory committee are: Louis Arki, the Superintendent of Securities for Nunavut; William Belliveau, president of Bell Strategic Inc. in Moncton, N.B.; Peter Brown, chairman and founder of Canaccord Capital in Vancouver; James Hinds, a retired investment banker from Toronto who is now a corporate director; Paul Jelley, retired deputy minister of finance from Prince Edward Island; Dale Linn, a Saskatoon lawyer; Gary MacDougall, Superintendent of Securities for the Northwest Territories; Winston Morris, assistant deputy minister of Consumer and Commercial Affairs for Newfoundland and Labrador; Frederik Pretorius, director of Corporate Affairs in Yukon; and Dawn Russell, law professor at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

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