SARS worries force cancellation of governance conference

(April 28, 2003) Citing concerns about SARS, the Canadian Foundation for Investor Education has postponed a one-day corporate governance symposium scheduled for June in Toronto. However, an informal check by Advisor.ca reveals that for other upcoming financial conferences in the Toronto area, it’s business as usual.

The governance conference, held in association with the University of Alberta School of Business and co-sponsored by the TSX Group, was originally set for Friday, June 6.

“We have decided to postpone the symposium until a time when public anxiety is reduced,” said foundation chair Ralph McLeod. “While we continue to believe that the risks posed by SARS are very low, public and international reaction to the phenomenon has constrained our ability to put on an effective event.”

A new date has not been announced. “We still believe the issue of corporate governance is important and we are keen to explore it at a later date,” McLeod added.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a travel warning for Toronto due to the SARS outbreak, a decision that has been widely criticized by health experts. The WHO has agreed to review the advisory during its regular meeting tomorrow in Geneva, announcing today that the disease appears to have peaked in Canada.

IFIC, the Independent Financial Brokers of Canada (IFB) and the Strategy Institute all have conferences scheduled for May in the Toronto area, and all report no change of plans due to SARS.

“We are not cancelling the Compliance Forum on May 12,” says IFIC’s Donna Klein, adding that they are monitoring the situation closely.

Nine attendees have cancelled due to SARS, but no speakers have pulled out. Klein expects attendance at the one-day forum to match last year, when more than 200 people registered. The compliance forum features sessions on civil liability, money laundering and an MFDA update.

It’s a similar story at the IFB, holding its spring summit May 27-28 at the Toronto Congress Centre.

“Registrations have been really strong and we haven’t had any exhibitors or speakers express concern at all,” says the IFB’s Nancy Allan. “Our feeling is that the WHO has overreacted and that people are going to see in the next couple of weeks that things are getting back to normal,” she adds.

Financial Post columnist Terence Corcoran will be the keynote speaker at the IFB summit, discussing the Ontario Securities Commission’s fair dealing model. Other speakers include tax expert Tim Cestnick, TD economist Peter Drake, MFDA chief operating officer Larry Waite and Financial Services Commission of Ontario superintendent Bryan Davies.

There’s also been no effect on the Strategy Institute’s Elite Advisor summit, scheduled for Kleinberg, north of Toronto, on May 7-8, according to conference organizer Dan Jerred. “Absolutely it’s business as usual,” he says. “We’ve had no delegate cancellations.”

One of the scheduled speakers at the Elite Advisor conference has cancelled, but Jerred says it’s for personal reasons, with SARS cited as a “secondary” concern. “As far as the financial conferences, we’re full steam ahead, not withstanding the overreaction of the WHO,” he says. John Bowen, Dan Sullivan and Norman Levine are among the scheduled speakers at the Elite Advisor summit.

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Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, dwatt@advisor.ca

(04/28/03)

Doug Watt