The Government of Alberta has passed legislative amendments to Alberta’s Securities Act, 2000, that broadly seek to attain two objectives: the extension of the safe harbour regime and the reduction of false or misleading information shared online.
The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) put forward the amendments, which have taken effect, following the receipt of royal assent for Bill 12, the Financial Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2), on Dec. 11, 2025.
“We are pleased that the Government of Alberta has passed legislation that will further enhance the ASC’s ability to protect investors and ensure that our capital market is fair and efficient,” said Stan Magidson, chair and chief executive officer of the ASC, in the news release.
According to the provincial government’s news release, the amendments aim to help the ASC:
- Protect Albertans, their investments, and the integrity of the province’s capital market
- Tackle evolving investor protection threats
- Ensure that existing safe harbours or defences from statutory civil liability can reasonably apply to climate-related disclosure and other new areas of issuer disclosures
“These amendments evolve Alberta securities laws to be responsive to changes in the financial markets, technology and industry trends,” Magidson said in the news release.
Extending safe harbours
According to the ASC’s news release, securities law offers companies defences or safe harbours from third-party lawsuits in some cases, such as those involving a reasonable investigation.
The amendments enable the ASC to extend the Securities Act’s existing safe harbour regime for statutory civil liability for issuers to cover liability under securities law for climate-related disclosure.
The ASC acknowledged that the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) halted the development of a mandatory climate-related disclosure rule in April 2025.
However, the ASC pointed out that:
- The federal securities legislation currently requires the disclosure of specified material information in an issuer’s regulatory filings
- Alberta issuers may make climate-related disclosure by choice or under other laws
Fighting false information
In its news release, the ASC noted that Albertans increasingly rely on the internet and social media for financial information.
The amendments allow the ASC to tackle problematic promotional activity and respond more effectively to the dissemination of false or misleading investment information via online communication channels, including by using its halt trade power in appropriate circumstances.