RS PROCEEDINGS ADJOURNED RS PROCEEDINGS ADJOURNED INDEFINITELY FOLLOWING NORTHERN'S MOTION TO DISMISS PROCEEDINGS
TORONTO, ONTARIO, October 19, 2006 - Northern Financial Corporation (TSX: NFC) today reported that regulatory proceedings commenced by Market Regulations Services Inc. ("RS") against Northern Securities Inc. ("Northern" or the "Company") have been adjourned indefinitely by order of an RS Hearing Panel on October 10, 2006 in response to the Company's motion to dismiss the proceedings. The adjournment was granted to permit the Ontario Securities Commission (the "Commission") to consider an application by Northern for a hearing and review of decisions concerning the purported retroactive approval by the Commission of the TSX trading rules ("UMIR") that are sought to be applied against the Company in the RS regulatory proceedings.
In the context of the RS regulatory proceedings, on August 2, 2006, Northern delivered a motion record to RS in which the Company claimed, among other things, that the TSX had not sought or obtained approval from the Commission to amend its rules to adopt UMIR (the "UMIR Amendments") as required by the Protocol for Commission Oversight of the Toronto Stock Exchange Rules dated October 3, 1997 (the "Protocol"). The TSX is required to comply with the Protocol as a term of its recognition order by the Commission.
Following receipt of Northern's motion materials, and after RS had sought and obtained an adjournment of the RS hearing, on September 21, 2006 the TSX applied to the Commission for purported retroactive approval of the UMIR Amendments. Neither the TSX nor RS informed Northern or the Hearing Panel of its intention to do so either prior to or following RS's request for an adjournment of the hearing. On September 29, 2006, the Commission published the UMIR Amendments in the OSC Bulletin and purported to approve these amendments.
The purported retroactive approval of the UMIR Amendments prompted the RS Hearing Panel to adjourn the RS proceedings without a fixed hearing date so as to permit Northern to apply to the Commission for a hearing and review of the actions of the TSX and Commission staff with respect to, and the validity of, the purported retroactive amendments to the TSX Rules to adopt the UMIR Amendments.