This guest post from Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, co-authored by Ross McKee, Partner, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, is reprinted here with permission.
INTRODUCTION
The Canadian Securities Administrators have proposed a new uniform Canadian registration exemption for investment sub-advisers, as part of a package of proposed amendments to Canadian registration rules. The proposed exemption will add a chaperone requirement that does not exist under the current sub-adviser exemptions in Ontario and Quebec. In addition, no adviser registration exemptions (such as sub-adviser or international adviser) could be relied upon by anyone registered as an adviser in any jurisdiction of Canada.
When registration reforms were introduced in 2009, one of the missing elements was a uniform national sub-adviser registration exemption for foreign advisers to a registered Canadian portfolio manager. This can arise when a Canadian portfolio manager seeks specialized investment expertise from a foreign adviser.
Ontario has long had an automatic exemption for sub-advisers under section 7.3 of OSC Rule 35-502 Non-Resident Advisers. Quebec has the similar exemption under Decision No. 2009 PDG-0191. In 2009, other provinces stated they were prepared to grant similar sub-adviser exemptions but only upon application.