For Policy Makers and Regulators

The Centre helps policy makers and regulators in assessing and drafting legislation, by providing best practices reviews, in evaluating and testing accountability, transparency and stakeholder recourse regimes and in establishing innovative mechanisms to assist in strengthening the confidence key players.

The Centre has made important contributions to landmark legislative and regulatory reforms, including expert appearances before Canada’s Senate banking committee and the Toronto Stock Exchange and significant submissions to committees of the United States Congress.  It is regularly called upon by governments and public institutions for its independent advice.

The Centre was the first organization of its kind to be invited to appear before Canada’s influential Senate banking committee as an expert witness in corporate governance, in 1994.  Its recommendations and subsequent consultations with the committee set the groundwork for the creation of a Senate task force on corporate governance and a comprehensive examination of the role of pension fund governance. In its testimony, The Centre also focused on Canada’s outmoded system of securities regulation involving 13 separate jurisdictions and proposed the creation of a consultative body to examine the harmonization of these regimes. It was among the earliest voices to call for the creation of a single national securities regulator. In 2003, The Centre was invited once again to appear before the Senate in connection with its hearings into the implications of the Enron collapse. In its report, the Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce adopted many of The Centre’s long-standing recommendations for effective corporate governance reform.  The Centre’s warning to the New York Stock Exchange regarding its governance shortcomings and crony boardroom practices preceded by many months the eruption of major scandals in that institution which eventually prompted the ouster of its then CEO, Richard Grasso.

The Centre has also focused on the governance of public institutions, professional bodies and self-regulatory organizations, consistent with its view that those who regulate in the public interest must themselves be models of transparency, sound governance and stakeholder accountability.

Policy makers and regulators rely upon the authentic and experienced voice of The Centre to provide a strategic perspective on the current and emerging governance landscape and the issues that are affecting its contours.  The Centre helps with assessing and drafting legislation, undertakes best practices reviews, evaluates and tests accountability, transparency and stakeholder recourse regimes and establishes innovative mechanisms to assist with stakeholder communications and strengthening the confidence key players have in the institutions on which they depend.