CIRI Issues Advocacy Update

On Friday, July 15, CIRI made a submission to the CSA on Multilateral Staff Notice 54-304 Final Report on Review of the Proxy Voting Infrastructure and Request for Comments on Proposed Meeting Vote Reconciliation Protocols. CIRI believes that vote reconciliation is vital to the transparency and accuracy of the shareholder vote but suggests that it should be done at the beginning and throughout the process rather than at the end. CIRI also believes that an electronic system for vote reconciliation would be more effective and efficient as opposed to the paper-based protocols proposed and that the market participants providing these services, not issuers, should undertake the costs for such a system.

Click here to view CIRI's Submission to the CSA.

On Friday, July 15, CIRI also made a submission to the TSX on Proposed Amendments to the TSX Company Manual, Part IV (listed issuers’ website content) and Part VI (security based compensation arrangements). Since the majority of issuers already maintain a website and disclose much of the information required under proposed Section 473 in some form available to the public, CIRI believes the requirements are unnecessarily repetitive and duplicative. In addition, the TSX is proposing disclosure of documents that have not been disclosed previously, which has raised some concerns.

Click here to view CIRI's Submission to the TSX.

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has released the final implementation tools for reporting payments to governments and government officials by mining and oil and gas companies under the recently enacted Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA).

Click here to view the Issues Backgrounder: Publish What You Pay Rules. (Note: you will need to be logged in to view this members only publication).