TORONTO, April 22, 2008 --Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who has made reform of Canada’s securities regulation a high priority, will be looking to members of the faculty of York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School to play key roles in guiding the work of the Expert Panel on Securities Regulation in Canada.

Osgoode Professor Poonam Puri, along with Paul Halpern from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, will jointly carry out the function of Research Director, while Professor Edward Waitzer, the Jarislowsky Dimma Mooney Chair in Corporate Governance, will be responsible, along with the legal team of Stikeman Elliott LLP co-headed by Waitzer and William Braithwaite, for writing the draft model Common Securities Act. Professor Peter Hogg, who served as Dean of Osgoode from 1998 to 2003 and is Scholar in Residence at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, is a special advisor to the Panel.

In addition, Osgoode alumna Heather Zordel (LLB ’87, LLM ’98), who is the Associate Director of Osgoode's Part-time LLM Program in Securities Law and a Partner at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, has been appointed as one of the six members of the Expert Panel.

“These federal appointments, as well as last week’s appointment by the Ontario government of Osgoode Professor Mary Condon to the Ontario Securities Commission, confirm Osgoode’s national leadership in the field of securities regulation,” said Osgoode Dean Patrick Monahan. “Each of these individuals will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge in the securities regulation field to the Expert Panel and the OSC.”

The federal government’s Expert Panel on Securities Regulation in Canada, which launched a consultation process this week to obtain the views of Canadians on a model Common Securities Act, will provide independent advice and recommendations to ministers – federal, provincial and territorial – and is expected to deliver a final report and draft model Common Securities Act by the end of this year.

For further information, please contact:
Virginia Corner
Communications Manager
Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
416-736-5820
vcorner@osgoode.yorku.ca