Canada’s Corporate Governance Disclosure Rule Finalized

Canadian securities regulators recently finalized their (a) policy setting out corporate governance guidelines that reflect best practices, and (b) disclosure rule requiring public companies to describe specific aspects of their governance practices. The disclosure rule will apply to financial years ending on and after June 30, 2005.

The governance guidelines are very similar in substance to the listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange and reflect current North American best practices in governance, which public companies will want to consider. These guidelines are not dramatically different from the 14 corporate governance guidelines adopted by the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1995. (Under "Governance Guidelines" below, we indicate changes from the TSX guidelines with "[new]".)