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Markets should react well to ‘serious guy’. Joe Oliver’s move into the finance minister’s seat could boost federal hopes of establishing a national securities regulator.
“He knows all the players, the banks, the regulators. He would have, certainly, contacts where he can sit down and have a conversation,” said Thomas Caldwell, chief executive of Caldwell Securities Ltd. in Toronto, who has known Oliver for 40 years.
Outgoing finance minister Jim Flaherty had long pushed for a national regulator; Canada is the only major industrialized country without one. Oliver, who was named to the new post Wednesday, has worked as an investment banker with Merrill Lynch and is a former executive director of the Ontario Securities Commission.
The 73-year-old Harvard MBA is also former president of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, and played a prominent role as chair of the advisory committee of the International Council of Securities Associations, and as chair of the consultative committee of the International Association of Securities Commissions.
“Coming to the job, Joe has far more in the way of experience and qualifications” than Flaherty had, noted Caldwell, who started with Oliver at Royal Securities Corp. in Montreal, a firm that was later taken over by Merrill Lynch.
Reaction to Oliver’s appointment Wednesday was generally positive on Bay Street. “His credentials are impressive as a recently minted MP (and) a seasoned market professional,” Scotiabank economists Derek Holt and Dov Zigler wrote in a note to clients.
Many of those who had worked with Oliver in his previous role as minister of natural resources also reacted positively.
Pierre Gratton, head of the Mining Association of Canada, called Oliver “one of the smartest ministers in government, a really intelligent man” and one of the “most effective ministers in natural resources” he’s dealt with.
Gratton acknowledged he may have been seen as “a tad too aggressive at times with opponents” on the pipeline issues, but has stick-handled mining issues well.
Ontario Mining Association president Chris Hodgson said Oliver’s more formal style should serve him well in his complex new role.
“He’s a serious guy — serious in public and serious in private. He doesn’t play games so there shouldn’t be any surprises with him,” he said.
While Oliver may not have Flaherty’s “twinkle”, said Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli, “it’s not about flash, it’s all about substance, and that’s what the markets will like.”
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