Securities regulators may agree on the need to improve issuers’ diversity disclosure, but they can’t agree on how to achieve it. A public consultation on the issue so far isn’t building consensus. In April, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) proposed changes to corporate governance requirements, publishing two approaches for expanding diversity disclosures beyond gender. The Ontario […]

In June 2009, IGOPP published a Policy Paper on “The Status of Women on Boards of Directors in Canada: Calling for Change”. Almost 12 years later, the issue of diversity on boards of directors still remains partly unresolved. Indeed, women’s representation on boards of directors has doubled during this period [from 15% in 2008 to […]

Mr. Ben Axler, Chief Investment Officer and founder of Spruce Point Capital responds (Financial Post, December 17th, 2019) to my article on short sellers of his kind (Financial Post, December 13th, 2019). He trots out the worn-out argument that short sellers only reveal the sordid truths hidden in the bosom of corporations. In short, “professional” […]

A recent court case meant to clarify the definition of a corporation intensifies questions about the tax treatment of carried interest, a prized perk for private equity and hedge fund managers. The IRS argued for a broad definition of the term “corporation” in the case. But the legal issue that could come up in the […]

Canada’s securities regulators are launching a review of automatic share sale programs after controversial trading last year at Bombardier Inc. led to calls for reform by investor rights advocates. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), an umbrella organization for provincial securities watchdogs, said on Thursday it will examine whether automatic securities disposition plans place “appropriate constraints” […]

A Quebec judge has ruled that SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. can stand trial on bribery and fraud charges, prolonging the Canadian engineering giant’s legal pain and keeping the case in the public eye in the run-up to this fall’s federal election. Justice Claude Leblond of the Quebec Court ruled Wednesday that there is enough evidence to […]

Excerpted and translated from “Le fiasco SNC-Lavalin: crime, culture, governance?” by Yvan Allaire, executive chairman of the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations, published in Policy Options March 18, 2019.  The tragedy of SNC-Lavalin was in the making between 2000 and 2012. To outside observers, these were years of quiet profitability for the […]

In Ottawa, there appears to be little sympathy these days for SNC-Lavalin, the giant engineering corporation facing prosecution for bribery schemes in Libya. The company was hoping to strike a deal with federal prosecutors in order to avoid a trial. If guilty, it would be cut off from lucrative Canadian government contracts for a decade. […]

The long series of scandals ensnaring SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.  has one former executive of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec calling for more accountability when it comes to corporate bribes for global contracts. Michel Nadeau, a former deputy chief executive of Caisse – the largest shareholder in SNC – told BNN Bloomberg on […]

As a longtime member of the Association of Correspondents Tracking the War On Corporations, I have embedded with troops of lawyers, activists and corporate officials through the great battles of the last several decades. From the failure to ward off the stakeholder invasion of the 1990s to the great executive retreat at the Battle of […]

The United Kingdom is stiffening the rules large companies must follow in an effort to rein in executive pay and bolster the input of ordinary employees in the running of their firms. On Tuesday, the government outlined a series of changes. Large publicly-traded companies will have to report annually the ratio of CEO pay to […]

In the wake of several high-profile takeovers of Quebec companies, such as Rona Inc. and Cirque du Soleil, the provincial government is implementing new measures aimed at promoting the growth of local businesses while maintaining corporate head offices in the province. Premier Philippe Couillard’s government said Tuesday it would set up a watchdog group to […]

There is a Chinese proverb that says He who knows he has enough is rich; but the modern Western version of the saying seems to be: One never has enough; I deserve more; or There is always someone who has more. Over the last years, we have built a system of incentives and motives so […]

Once upon a time, the governance of publicly listed corporations was a friendly, fraternal affair with few requirements and little risk. Then, during the 1980s, a group of funds (leveraged buyout funds) sprouted up claiming that this sort of governance deprived shareholders of the full economic value of the business they had invested in. Cozy […]

One such fee is the landing and parking fee charged to airlines – a fee often passed down to consumers. And flights landing in Canada pay some of the highest fees in the world, according to a 2014 report from the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations entitled The Governance of Canadian Airports. […]

More than six months after the fact, the sale of Rona to Lowe’s, a U.S. corporation, continues to generate political controversy. Lowe’s’ first attempt to acquire Rona in 2012 turned more or less hostile in nature, sparking a strong reaction from the Quebec government at the time. The government ordered the financial institutions under its […]