In May 2015, when Halifax-based Centennial Group pushed for Board change at Temple Hotels, the predictable proxy contest never materialized. Instead, within just a few weeks’ time, the dissident shareholder and the company negotiated a mutually satisfactory arrangement and rescheduled the annual meeting to accommodate the nominee changes. “The two moved to something quickly that was amicable for both sides,” says Amy Freedman, President at Kingsdale Shareholder Services in Toronto. “You could call this a more ‘constructivist’ approach.” | Read Article |

Technology has brought with it many changes. Initially the changes were small, almost unrecognizable, but with time they became more dramatic. Originally the mobile phone was kind of a novelty owned by few and envied by many, with limited functionality. Cellphones followed – big, clunky, again with limited functionality. Now cellphones are effectively minicomputers; they are multifunctional and support a wide array of applications, some of them free. Virtually everyone everywhere has a cellphone, even little children. | Read Article |

On December 4, 2015, Suncor Energy Inc. ("Suncor") extended its unsolicited take-over bid for Canadian Oil Sands Limited ("COS"). The extension followed a decision of the Alberta Securities Commission ("ASC") relating to COS's shareholder rights plan, in which the ASC reasserted the long established position of the Canadian Securities Administrators that there is a time when a "poison pill" must go and shareholders must be able to decide to tender or not tender to a bid. | Read Article |

...but does it represent an improvement, and at what cost? | Read Article |

Something has changed. Communication and information sharing is becoming faster, more direct, and more interconnected. At the same time, with the prevalence of high-speed trading, equities are changing hands in microseconds while computers do most of the trading. Likewise, shorter-term investment horizons are becoming the norm with fickle shareholders moving in and out of positions with little to no warning. | Read Article |

I read a quote that said, “When I talk to managers, I get the feeling that they are important; when I talk to leaders, I get the feeling that I am important.” This best encompasses my vision of a leader and I have been fortunate in my career to have worked for a number of great leaders. These people not only made me feel important but also motivated and empowered me to put in the extra effort and do my best. And they did it without me even knowing. | Read Article |