Glass Lewis' 2017 Canada Policy Guidelines

Towards the end of last year, Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC (Glass Lewis), a leading governance and proxy voting firm, released its 2017 Proxy Paper Guidelines for Canada (the Guidelines) for the upcoming 2017 proxy season.  Although the Guidelines contain changes compared to the guidelines released by Glass Lewis in 2016, most were foreshadowed in the 2016 guidelines so should come as no surprise.  The key changes are detailed below.

Director Overboarding

When making recommendations in relation to directors, Glass Lewis will generally recommend voting against (a) a director who is an executive of any public company and serves on more than two boards of public companies; and (b) any director who serves on more than five boards of public companies. If the above thresholds are exceeded, before making its recommendation, Glass Lewis will consider the potential director's board duties (including committees) at the other companies, attendance records and involvement on