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
ISS Releases Proposed 2022 Proxy Voting Policy Updates, Opens Comment Period
On Nov. 4, 2021, influential proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) released proposed updates to its main benchmark proxy voting policies in multiple regions, including Canada and the U.S.
2021 Proxy Season Snapshot: Pay, Performance and Public Outcry
How COVID-19 Put a Spotlight on Executive Pay and Performance.
Kingsdale Memo: Modernizing Ontario’s Capital Markets
The Ontario Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce released its 115-page final report, with over 70 ground-breaking recommendations to improve Ontario’s capital markets to better support a dynamic and competitive economy.
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.