Our Mission and Mandate
The Commission's securities industry mandate is to act in the public interest to protect Manitoba investors and to facilitate the raising of capital while maintaining fairness and integrity in the securities marketplace. Similarly, its real estate industry mandate is to regulate real estate and mortgage brokers, salespeople, and property managers to ensure adequate standards are maintained for the protection of the public.
In order to fulfill these mandates the Commission is responsible for the following:
- review and process applications for registration, including administrative hearings where required to determine whether registration is in the public interest;
- maintain a public registry of persons registered to trade in the capital markets or real estate markets in the province;
- develop and offer public education to provide information about potentially illegal activity and to help members of the public understand investing and market issues and to be able to make appropriate investment decisions;
- grant or deny exemptions from requirements of the legislation as appropriate;
- ensure that take-over bids are carried out in accordance with the prescribed rules;
- review prospectuses for financial and legal adherence to the securities regulations;
- review new products for financial and legal adherence to the securities regulations;
- investigate breaches of legislation and regulation exercising the power of search, the power to compel evidence, seize records and the power to freeze assets;
- hold administrative hearings to deny, suspend or cancel a registration under statutes administered by the Commission, or to deny a member of the public the right to participate in the capital markets in Manitoba, and, where appropriate, to order financial compensation to members of the public or levy an administrative penalty;
- act as Crown Counsel in prosecutions;
- develop policy and rules on both a local and national basis;
- oversee activities of organizations such as ICE Futures Canada, as well as self-regulatory organizations such as the Investment Industry Regulatory Association of Canada and The Mutual Fund Dealers Association;
- ensure that public companies provide continuous disclosure of information; and
- participate in national and international regulatory organizations, in both areas of securities and real estate to ensure that the concerns and issues related to the operation of capital and real estate markets in Manitoba are communicated to other jurisdictions and to work cooperatively with those jurisdictions to develop national regulatory systems.