Ontario Securities Commission Amends Temporary Order Prohibiting Short Selling

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today issued an amended Temporary Order under Section 144 of the Securities Act prohibiting short selling of certain financial sector issuers. This follows a Temporary Order under Section 127 (5) of the Act prohibiting short selling of securities of certain financial sector issuers that are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and are also interlisted in the United States (with the exception of one issuer whose shares are exchangeable).

The original Order was issued as a precautionary matter with respect to short selling of the securities of financial sector issuers subject to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) short selling order dated September 18, 2008, and to ensure that our markets are not used for purposes of regulatory arbitrage.

The OSC is acting in its capacity as lead regulator of the TSX. The amended Order is intended to address technical and operational matters that have arisen, or may arise, from the original Order, and supports action taken by the SEC on September 21, 2008, whereby it made similar amendments.

The OSC is a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), which is the council of the securities regulators of Canada’s provinces and territories. Other CSA members are examining the original and amended Orders and may issue similar Orders in the coming days.

The issuers affected by the original and amended Orders are: Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Investment Company Ltd., Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, Kingsway Financial Services Inc., Manulife Financial Corporation, Quest Capital Corp., Royal Bank of Canada, Sun Life Financial Inc., Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc., The Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Merrill Lynch & Co., Canada Ltd.

The amended Order will be in effect until October 3, 2008, unless extended by Order of the Commission. The amended Order is available on the OSC website at www.osc.gov.on.ca.