The Quebec government announced plans to move quickly to propose
legislative amendments designed to better position Quebec companies
to deter, and protect themselves from, unsolicited take-over bids.
The government's announcement, which also included proposed
measures intended to increase the attractiveness of locating
companies in Quebec, was made in conjunction with a report released
by the Task Force on the Protection of Québec Businesses
(the "Task Force"),1 which
recommended the proposed reforms.
Background
In the spring of 2013, two proposals were made by Canadian
securities regulators (see our earlier client update entitled
Canadian Securities Regulators Propose New Regimes for
Shareholder Rights Plans) concerning shareholder rights plans
(or "poison pills"), a device commonly
employed by issuers facing unwanted take-over bids. To replace the
current system, where poison pills can effectively only be used to
facilitate the target board's efforts to identify
