 | Revised Corporate Governance Guidelines and Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices |
November-5-2004
| Area | Corporate and Commercial, Corporate Finance and Securities, REITs and Income Securities |
Summary
On January 16, 2004, the Ontario Securities Commission and certain of the other provincial securities regulatory authorities released for comment a proposed policy intended to provide guidance on corporate governance practices and a proposed instrument designed to provide greater transparency for the marketplace regarding issuers’ corporate governance practices. The authorities in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec subsequently released a different draft policy. On October 29, 2004, all of the provincial securities regulatory authorities together published for comment a revised policy and instrument.
Similar to the existing corporate governance guidelines of the Toronto Stock Exchange (which are expected to be revoked once the proposed policy is effective), the proposed policy sets out corporate governance guidelines that reflect best practices but does not require that issuers adopt the specified practices. As a practical matter, however, it can be expected that issuers will experience pressure to conform to the policy’s recommendations as a result of market scrutiny.
The comment period for the proposal expires December 13, 2004.
