Seven of Canada’s largest pension funds are concerned that there may be systemic issues that compromise the integrity of the proxy voting infrastructure.
In a joint response to a consultation paper by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the funds recommend that vote entitlements be fully reconciled, beneficial holders receive end-to-end vote confirmation and the CSA commission an independent end-to-end operational audit of the system (possibly every three years).
They urge the CSA to undertake an end-to-end review of the proxy voting infrastructure and believe this review can be facilitated by forming an advisory committee comprising the key players in the system.
The seven funds that responded jointly are the Alberta Investment Management Corp., British Columbia Investment Management Corp., Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, OMERS Administration Corp., Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Public Sector Pension Investment Board.