Canadian proxy contests reaching a vote hit a five-year high, campaign volume declined, but the fights that remained went further and hit harder, and boards with real shareholder relationships came out on top.
Download Kingsdale Advisors' most comprehensive look at what's reshaping Canadian and U.S. boardrooms. Covering July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, the report shows a shareholder landscape that's more fragmented and harder to predict, with more of the voting decision moving in-house with investors themselves.
The in-depth research also examines CEO succession at S&P/TSX Composite companies overthe past three years, and what the difference between planned and reactive transitions reveals about board preparedness.
- Contests reaching a vote hit a five-year high, up 39% year over year.
- Large-cap activist targets more than doubled, from 4% to 9%.
- M&A activism drove 40% of campaigns, above the five-year average.
- Say-on-Pay support reached a five-year high of 93.4%.
- Governance proposals more than doubled to 56.
Latest Insights
Glass Lewis 2022 Policy Guidelines
Glass, Lewis & Co. has released its 2022 Policy Guidelines for the Canadian market as part of its annual proxy voting policy update process. These guidelines will be effective for shareholder meetings held on or after January 1, 2022.
Governance Advisory Update: ISS Publishes Results from Recent Policy Surveys
On October 1, Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) published the results of two global policy surveys it conducted with market participants as part of its annual policy development process.
2021 Proxy Season Review
Activism is a year-long event, and in 2021, Canadian issuers were subject to the most proxy contests since 2013 as activists sought to make big changes in boardrooms.
When The Stakes Are Highest, Business Leaders Choose Kingsdale
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* Source: Bloomberg Global Shareholder Activism League Tables FY2025 and LSEG Global Shareholder Activism Review FY2025.
#2025 and 2026 indicate proxy seasons: July 2024 to June 2026.