New Corporate Governance in Canada. Majority Voting, Individual Voting, and Gender

This case study evaluates a set of new proposals aimed to change the existing corporate governance regime in Canada. These amendments concern privately-held and publicly listed companies incorporated under the federal Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA). The new regulation covers corporate governance practices related to shareholder voting, elections of directors, diversity among directors and senior managers, as well as other changes. The main objective of this case study is to explain the key differences between distinct shareholder voting regimes by indicating their relative advantages and disadvantages. More importantly, however, this study focuses on diversity policies introduced in the new bill with regard to gender diversity of the members of the board of directors and the top management team. It uses the proposed amendments as a pretext to discuss gender differences in the general population and the potential impact gender diversity may have on the quality of the decision-making process in the firm and subsequently on firm performance.