Finance Minister Urges Europe to Act Quickly

(REUTERS) - The ongoing European debt crisis is threatening the global economy and must be dealt with swiftly and decisively, Canada's finance minister Jim Flaherty said at a conference on Wednesday.

Flaherty said European leaders needed to implement a solution powerful enough to stop the spread of the crisis. They have not done so yet, he added.

Flaherty said countries need to adopt quick fiscal reform to address ballooning budget deficits.

Governments around the world must all live within their means, Flaherty said. These aren't abstract economic theories.

Speaking at the Toronto Financial Services Day conference, Flaherty said Canada had taken the necessary steps to stabilize its financial system during the 2008 crisis, but that the country still needed a national securities regulator. He said once the Canadian Supreme Court approved it, the government would move quickly to have a securities regulator operating sometime in 2012.