March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he expects “a fair degree of consensus” for tougher rules on financial markets when world leaders meet in London next week to discuss the financial crisis.

To win U.S. support the new approach should focus on national regulators and not the international regulations that some European countries are seeking, Harper said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Washington.

“We have reason to believe that there will be a fair degree of consensus,” Harper said. “European calls to go much further with global regulation is just a non-starter.”

“We can achieve the same objectives without going that far,” Harper said.

Leaders of the Group of Twenty will meet April 2 in London to discuss the crisis. Recommendations by a G-20 working group on regulation, which Canada co-chaired, include calls for more oversight of hedge funds, and a system-wide approach to reduce excessive risk-taking.

Canada’s preferred solution, which seems to be winning U.S. support, is for a strong national regulator with an “international peer review” system, he said.

The G-20 working group recommended that, on top of existing regulations, each country set up mechanisms to gauge the stability of the financial system, and allow officials to intervene if actions by individual firms pose systemic risks.

Harper indicated Canada’s bank regulator -- the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions -- may take the lead in any new regulatory mechanism for Canada.

“Obviously, current financial regulations are handled principally by the Superintendent for Financial Institutions,” Harper said. “I have received no advice that would suggest to me that wouldn’t be an appropriate model.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Washington at targitis@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 29, 2009 16:04 EDT