The Securities Commission has granted an exemption to Enbridge Gas Inc., Enbridge Pipelines Inc., and Westcoast Energy Inc. (collectively referred to as the Filers) from the requirement to prepare their financial statements in accordance with Canadian GAAP applicable to publicly accountable enterprises. Instead, the Filers are permitted to use U.S. GAAP for their financial statements.
This decision is based on the fact that the Filers are indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries of Enbridge Inc., which is an SEC issuer and prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Filers have rate-regulated activities and their financial statements are consolidated into those of Enbridge Inc. Although the Filers are not SEC issuers themselves, they would be allowed to use U.S. GAAP if they were.
The exemption is similar to previous relief granted in 2018 but was set to expire on January 1, 2024, or upon the introduction of a new IFRS standard specific to rate-regulated entities. Since the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has not yet finalized such a standard, the Filers have been granted additional time to prepare for the transition to IFRS.
The exemption will remain in effect until the earliest of January 1, 2027, the date the Filers cease to have rate-regulated activities, or two years after the IASB publishes a final version of a Mandatory Rate-regulated Standard, should it come into effect.
The decision was made under the authority of National Instrument 52-107 Acceptable Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards, section 5.1, and is in line with the Multilateral Instrument 11-102 Passport System and National Policy 11-203 Process for Exemptive Relief Applications in Multiple Jurisdictions. The Alberta Securities Commission is the principal regulator, and the decision also applies to Ontario and other Passport Jurisdictions.