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What makes junior ventures successful? Holding steady toward strategic, long-term goals was a key feature for this year’s crop of TSX Venture 50 companies. Selected from a pool of nearly 400 eligible Venture-listed companies, the 2013 Venture 50 is made … Continue reading →

For the past 10 months, Calgary-based fertilizer giant Agrium Inc. (TSX:AGU) has been the focus of a very public proxy war with New York hedge fund Jana Partners, which had sought to replace five of Agrium’s 13 board members with … Continue reading →

Twenty years can go by in a blink. And sometimes, it can seem like a century. In the two decades that title partner Korn/Ferry International and Patrick O’Callaghan and Associates have been publishing Corporate Board Governance and Director Compensation, taking … Continue reading →

In late 2011 someone blew the whistle at SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., the Montreal-based engineering giant, and what a loud and piercing sound it made. Senior executives and board members received an anonymous tip that serious criminal activities had taken place … Continue reading →

Watch out corporate Canada, Klippensteins is gunning for you. The five-person public interest law firm has made its name defending human rights, particularly among indigenous peoples. Its high-profile cases include representing the family of slain native activist Dudley George, who … Continue reading →

It’s blue, big as a CEO’s office and can be helicoptered or dragged through the woods to its next job. It’s also proving to be very, very hard to get rid of. The “it” in question is a $300,000 drilling … Continue reading →

Watch out corporate Canada, Klippensteins is gunning for you. The five-person public interest law firm has made its name defending human rights, particularly among indigenous peoples. Its high-profile cases include representing the family of slain native activist Dudley George, who … Continue reading →

I’ve always been confused by insider trading rules pertaining to the disclosure of non- public information. Not that I was confused by the intent when I was an analyst; that made perfect sense to me. Rather, I was concerned about … Continue reading →

Market volatility, overseas debt crises and instability in North American markets have, in part, had negative effects on the Canadian initial public offering market over the past three years. In 2010, 73 IPOs were issued on all exchanges raising $5.5 … Continue reading →

Two new, competing proposals from Canadian regulators on poison pills promise to create new guidelines that are more predictable for target companies and tougher on hostile bidders who have made Canada a corporate hunting ground in recent years. The first … Continue reading →

A few months have passed since the federal Conservative government outlined how it would amend the Investment Canada Act to clamp down on future takeovers by foreign state-owned enterprises (SOEs) while making other changes to clarify approval parameters for all … Continue reading →

On the back of continued share-price underperformance, the last six months has shown what appears to be a strategic shift in the mining industry’s direction. Comments from senior management abound expressing the importance of return on capital and profitability over … Continue reading →

The first quarter of 2013 saw a dramatic increase in the volume of deals in which public companies were bought and taken private. At the time of writing, total global go-private deal value was more than US$50 billion—at least twice … Continue reading →

I recently trained a group of directors and CEOs from the banking and agricultural sectors in Texas and Arizona. We discussed mutual expectations on the part of the board and management. The following represents the output of these discussions. While … Continue reading →

For compensation committees and senior management involved in executive compensation decision-making, the first quarter of the year can be a stressful time. Most issuers are determining bonuses for the year just ended as well as long-term incentive grants (e.g. stock … Continue reading →

Operational risks are generally associated with the day-to-day running of the business and vary significantly depending upon industry sector. Clearly, operational risks for a manufacturing company will not be the same as for businesses in financial services or the extraction … Continue reading →

It is fair to say that investor relations practitioners have been slower to embrace social media than their colleagues in other spheres of the communications profession. When the subject of social media comes up, IROs tend to start spouting cautionary … Continue reading →

The last year and a half has been tough on the mining sector with falling commodity prices, worker unrest and increased wage demands as well as increased capital expenditures, weak public capital markets and increasing regulatory costs. This environment has … Continue reading →

DESPITE SOVEREIGN DEBT and currency worries in Europe and about-even chances of a double-dip recession in the U.S., the market for mergers and acquisitions has been strong in Canada in 2011. Our status as an international M&A haven can be … Continue reading →

PETER MUNK’S YEARLY address to Barrick Gold Corp. shareholders at the company’s annual meeting always has the tone and atmosphere of a preacher speaking to his congregation. He leans on the podium, speaking slowly in unscripted passages, his glasses dipping … Continue reading →

WHEN YOU’VE SPENT close to two decades as a CEO, held more than a dozen positions on high-level boards, and have board or executive experience in four distressed situations, you’ve earned the right to the first word on risk. “Risk … Continue reading →

On the surface, it looks decidedly simple, something so straightforward that you don’t give it a second thought. Even its name—“one-click”—suggests an easy-to-use approach. Say you decide to purchase something from Amazon.com or one of its various international sites, including … Continue reading →

If you think of the way your company manages corporate communications and investor relations, does the following anonymous account sound familiar? I am director of corporate communications and manage a corporate marketing communications group. We do product advertising for the … Continue reading →

FELIX CHEE FEELS misunderstood—and pulled in a lot of different directions. Sure, Chee understands what it is to be busy. As the former chief investment officer at Manulife Financial and head of the Ontario Hydro pension plan and University of … Continue reading →

Dominic Barton grew up on Canada’s west coast and, a couple of decades later, made his way to the top job at global consulting giant McKinsey & Co. via postings in Seoul and then Shanghai. So it’s no surprise to … Continue reading →

Hugh Bolton had a sterling career as a chartered accountant, culminating in his role as head of Coopers & Lybrand Canada in the 1990s. The insights gained in that arena have also served him exceedingly well in his second career … Continue reading →

There’s deep, and then there’s Jalynn Bennett deep. A senior executive, director and chair multiple times over; a veteran of private boards, public boards, crowns, nonprofits, panels and committees; and a champion for women in business and boardroom diversity, Bennett … Continue reading →

No single Canadian can take more credit for being a catalyst of improved corporate governance and board reform than Peter Dey. Today, Dey is chair of Toronto-based investment dealer Paradigm Capital and an active adviser on governance to global bodies … Continue reading →

Annette Verschuren is a highly regarded CEO, chair and director who served as president of Home Depot Canada and Asia for 15 years through 2011. Her primary role today is chair and CEO of NRStor Inc., an energy storage company. … Continue reading →

Robert Crandall is best known globally for being the CEO and chair of AMR Corp. and American Airlines Inc. through much of the 1980s and ’90s. He played a central role in making American the leading innovator in the industry … Continue reading →

It isn’t a lack of talent, but a myopic viewpoint that limits Canadian boards when it comes to adding new directors. That’s the take of corporate governance expert Beverly Behan. Her remarks come at a time when yet another report, … Continue reading →

The beaver is cute and the maple leaf packs a certain whole-earth appeal but, when it comes to national symbols, it’s the loonie that provides the highest-profile gauge of how our national economy is faring. Over the past decade the … Continue reading →

Does your company use conflict minerals? Where do your suppliers source their ingredients? If you haven’t heard that question a lot yet, you soon will—now that management and boards in many sectors are tracking use of minerals that might fund … Continue reading →

To Carol Hansell, the most fundamental issue facing the directors of Canadian energy, mining and resource companies isn’t happening in the boardroom, but in countries in Africa, South America and Asia. Hansell, a senior partner in capital markets and corporate … Continue reading →

Canadian listings of public mining companies may be centralized on Toronto-based exchanges, but with more than half of all listed Canadian mining companies located in British Columbia, the B.C. Securities Commission continues to assert its place as Canada’s leading junior … Continue reading →

What are you known for? What’s your reputation on the Street? In the boardroom community? If that question leaves you puzzled, chances are pretty good your personal brand is not everything it could be. All your attributes might be positive. … Continue reading →

The beaver is cute and the maple leaf packs a certain whole-earth appeal but, when it comes to national symbols, it’s the loonie that provides the highest-profile gauge of how our national economy is faring. Over the past decade the … Continue reading →

It’s blue, big as a CEO’s office and can be helicoptered or dragged through the woods to its next job. It’s also proving to be very, very hard to get rid of. The “it” in question is a $300,000 drilling … Continue reading →

Iron ore, usually a sedate citizen of the commodity world, has acted like a giddy teenager in recent months. From a low of US$86 a tonne in September, the metal soared above US$158 by January as a wave of Asian … Continue reading →

Having a bit of cash on hand used to be considered a virtue. As the clock winds down on 2012, it’s coming to be regarded as a borderline crime. Mark Carney gave voice to the sentiment back in late August, … Continue reading →

Happy birthday, financial crisis. Five years ago, in August 2007, BNP Paribas announced that because of losses related to U.S. housing loans, it was freezing three investment funds that at their peak had been worth more than $2 billion. So, … Continue reading →

When Tom Coughlin coached the New York Giants to a victory in the Super Bowl this past February, he also scored a victory for a much bigger team: the greying army of North American baby boomers that have hit or … Continue reading →

Who Vice-president policy and governance, RBC Global Asset Management; country correspondent to the International Corporate Governance Network. Involvement Following a decade of shareholder activism in the 1980s, the U.S.-based Council of Institutional Investors in 1993 began canvassing European pension funds … Continue reading →

Insider Richard Ross Who Executive-in-Residence and director of Schulich School of Business’s MBA in Global Mining Management; former chairman and CEO of Inmet Mining Corp. Involvement Last September, York University’s Schulich School of Business launched the first-ever MBA specialization in … Continue reading →

Insider Huguette Labelle Who Chair, Transparency International Involvement While she lives in Ottawa, and spent 19 years as a deputy minister, Huguette Labelle, chair of the global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI), now does most of her higher-profile work outside … Continue reading →

Insider Paul Cantor Who Chair of the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services Involvement In a post-Great Recession, post-liquidity crisis, LIBOR-tainted economic environment, risk management is top of mind for many institutions. It is within that context that the Global … Continue reading →

Insider Subrata Bhattacharjee Who Partner, co-chair, national trade and competition group, Heenan Blaikie Involvement Eighteen months after the Conservative government killed BHP Billiton’s attempted takeover of Saskatchewan Potash Corp., it’s just unveiled long- promised amendments to the Investment Canada Act to … Continue reading →

Insider Julie Dickson Who Superintendent, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Involvement Three years ago, The New York Times said Julie Dickson had moved from bureaucratic obscurity to become a minor celebrity for her role in keeping Canada’s banking system … Continue reading →