Earlier this week, the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance (CCGG) released its 2012 Best Practices for Proxy Circular Disclosure. The annual publication, which is intended to provide issuers with guidance on corporate governance and executive compensation disclosure, also includes a list of the CCGG's "Governance Gavel Awards" winners. In determining the winners, which this year include Suncor Energy, CN Rail and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, the CCGG considered the alignment between an issuer's practices and the recommended practices found in Building High Performance Boards and Executive Compensation Principles.
With respect to the review of disclosure practices, the publication provides a number of examples of actual disclosure the CCGG deems as "excellent", including with respect to topics such as majority voting, director independence, director nominee profiles, board succession, director continuing education, compensation, attendance and evaluation and risk management oversight. The publication also provides examples of "excellent" executive compensation disclosure, including with respect to the effectiveness of compensation programs over time, the linkages between executive compensation and corporate strategy and objectives, and compensation consultants and benchmarking.
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