Governance Proposals For Canadian Public Trusts

During this decade of increased standards of corporate governance, the use and popularity of income trusts has led to criticism of the absence of good governance practices and investor rights and remedies from income trusts that are otherwise applicable to corporate entities under corporate laws.

Critics and regulators, including the Bank of Canada, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC), the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, have observed or expressed concern about these differences. Consequently, they have made proposals or issued guidelines or recommendations to address the differences and perceived shortcomings in governance practices of income trusts.