Derek James Ferris

The appellants challenged the Ontario Securities Commission's decision to constitute a different panel for the sanctions hearing than the panel that presided over the merits hearing.

The merits panel found that the appellants had sold securities without being registered as dealers and traded securities without a prospectus.

After the original commissioners' terms expired, a new panel was appointed to conduct the sanctions hearing.

The appellants argued this violated the Statutory Powers Procedures Act and principles of procedural fairness.

The Divisional Court split on the issue but ultimately dismissed the appeal, finding the Commission's interpretation reasonable.

The Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that both interpretations were reasonable and that the Commission's approach did not violate procedural fairness or natural justice.

The Crown appealed a sentence imposed under the Securities Act for unregistered trading, trading without a prospectus, and breaching prohibition orders.

The sentencing judge had imposed an 18‑month sentence to run concurrently with a 27‑month sentence the respondent was already serving for separate securities offences involving a different company.

The Crown argued that the concurrent sentence undermined deterrence and failed to reflect that the offences arose from separate schemes occurring at different times with different victims.

The Superior Court held that the sentencing judge erred by failing to adequately consider the distinct nature of the schemes and the respondent’s repeated breaches of prohibition orders.

The court concluded that the totality principle did not render a 45‑month total sentence disproportionate and ordered the 18‑month term to be served consecutively.

The defendant pleaded guilty to five offences under the Securities Act, including trading in unregistered securities, distributing securities without a prospectus, and violating multiple Cease Trade Orders issued by the Ontario Securities Commission.

The defendant, acting as a commissioned salesman for an unregistered securities scheme, solicited over $220,000 from investors using an alias and received approximately $44,000 in commissions.

The court sentenced the defendant to 18 months imprisonment, with sentences on the CTO violation counts served consecutively to the trading and distribution counts, but concurrent with an existing 27-month sentence for related offences in the Shallow Oil matter.