‘Say on pay’ looks set to be the big story for the 2009 Canadian proxy season. This year, for the first time shareholders have given majority support to proposals asking that they have an annual say in how the companies they own compensate their senior executives. Other publicly-traded companies have also begun to voluntarily adopt a non-binding, advisory vote on executive compensation ahead of their annual meeting dates, as highlighted in the table below.
This is a quite an achievement, considering this issue was formally brought to Canadian companies just last year. (For the complete text and voting results of each proposal, please visit SHARE’sShareholder Resolution Database.)
| DATE | COMPANY | FILER | ADOPTED | WENT TO VOTE |
| Feb 26 | National Bank | MEDAC | Y | N |
| Feb 26 | Royal Bank | Meritas | Y | Y |
| Feb 26 | CIBC | Meritas/MEDAC | Y | Y |
| Mar 3 | Bank of Montreal | Meritas/MEDAC | Y | Y |
| Mar 3 | Bank of Nova Scotia | Meritas/MEDAC | Y | Y |
| Mar 10 | Laurentian Bank | MEDAC | Y | Y |
| Mar 10 | TMX Group | Meritas | Y | N |
| Mar 11 | Sun Life Financial | Meritas | Y | N |
| Mar 18 | TD | Meritas/MEDAC | Y | N |
| May 7 | Potash | Meritas | Y | N |
| May 7 | Manulife | MEDAC | Y | |
| May 13 | Power Corp | MEDAC | ||
| June 3 | Bombardier | MEDAC |
*current as of April 17, 2009
All companies that have adopted a ‘say on pay’ have indicated that they will move to implement a shareholder vote in 2010. Eyes now turn to the outcomes at the remaining Canadian companies facing a vote on executive compensation, and to potential regulatory action to ensure all shareholders have a ‘say on pay.’
