The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) will hold a roundtable meeting on Sept. 29 to review the progress that Canadian companies have made towards greater gender equality in the boardroom since reforms were implemented mandating firms to reveal the number of women on their boards and in senior executive positions.
Those rule changes were adopted as part of an effort — driven by the OSC, which was ultimately joined by regulators in most of the other provinces and territories — to help address the lack of female representation on many corporate boards and in executive suites by stepping up transparency requirements in a bid to better inform investment and shareholder voting decisions.
The rule amendments came into effect on Dec. 31, 2014, in time for the 2015 proxy season.
The OSC roundtable, which was announced on Monday, will examine issues uncovered in a regulatory review of over 700 TSX-listed issuers whose fiscal year-ends fell in the first quarter of 2015 (between Dec. 31, 2014 and Mar. 31), since the amendments to the corporate governance disclosure rules took effect.
The roundtable will include both an overview of findings from its review, and panel discussions examining the results and looking at how additional progress can be made. The OSC says that it will provide additional details on the lineup for the roundtable, including the final agenda and list of panelists, by Sept. 22.
The roundtable will be held at the OSC’s office in Toronto.