The Canadian Council for Good Governance (the
"CCGG") has stated that proxy access is
high on their agenda. Proxy access generally
refers to the ability of shareholders to nominate their own
candidates for the board and have those nominees included in
management proxy materials alongside management nominees. The CCGG
is in the process of drafting its policy on the topic.
Stephen Erlichman, the Executive Director of the CCGG, summarized the CCGG's concerns with the
current Canadian proxy access approach:
"We have no proxy access in Canada other than this
provision in most of the corporate statutes that says that if
you're a five per cent shareholder you can do a shareholder
proposal to nominate a director. It's used very rarely and it
allows the company, if it wants to, to attach the proposal as an
appendix to its proxy circular... So it's not an effective way
to have proxy access in Canada."
