As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause considerable social
and economic uncertainty, reporting issuers across all industries
must remain diligent in disclosing the impacts of the pandemic
– whether realized or anticipated – on their business
operations, current financial condition, liquidity, and future
prospects. The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has
indicated that they are committed to closely monitoring potentially
misleading disclosure related to COVID-19,1 but
over a year and a half into the pandemic, no Canadian securities
regulator has announced charges against any reporting issuers for
improper COVID-19 disclosure.
The CSA has conducted studies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
to review disclosure filings and analyze issuers' compliance
with National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure
Obligations. Most recently, the CSA published CSA Staff Notice
51-362 (SN 51-362), which summarized their findings and offered
guidance on improved