CIRI Alberta hosted a lively ESG Panel discussion in January. This is clearly a hot topic, as attendance reached an all-time record for a CIRI Alberta lunch event of more than 60 people. Panelists included: Jamie Bonham, Director, Corporate Engagements for NEI Investments; Ian de Verteuil, Managing Director and Head of Portfolio Strategy, Quantitative and Technical Research at CIBC World Markets; and Todd Coakwell, Director, Sustainability and ESG at Nutrien. The discussion explored the drivers of ESG. There was a conversation about the primary goal of ESG for all stakeholders. Panelists shared their thoughts on how companies could improve ESG disclosure and how to navigate different frameworks.
Quebec Chapter Update
We are off to a good start this year. The Quebec Chapter Executive met in January and welcomed Étienne Labrie, Account Executive, Cision Canada as a new appointed member of the Executive. Later in the month, thanks to a partnership with CFA Montreal, 10 members of CIRI Quebec seized the opportunity to attend – at a discount – the very popular 2020 Economic Outlook event. In 2020, this event reached an all-time attendance record of over 600 people.
In February, the Quebec Chapter organized an IR Roundtable entitled Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About IR But Were Afraid to Ask. Nearly 30 people came to learn from senior IROs: Mariem Elsayed, Director, Investor Relations and Public Affairs, Fiera Capital Corporation; Paul Butcher, Vice President, Investor Relations, Canadian National Railway; and Denis Jasmin, Vice President, Investor Relations, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. During the event, we used an interactive polling tool called Slido to engage the roundtable audience. We have been asked to organize another event of this nature to cover additional information on the topic. It was good to see some new faces at the event, which was hosted by Fiera Capital.