Canada abandons corporate governance changes

Canada's securities regulator has abandoned plans to change the country's corporate governance rules.

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) suggested that now is not the right time to drastically alter the country's corporate governance landscape - with businesses' first priority identified as surviving the economic downturn.

This announcement follows proposals made by the body last year, which called for greater transparency for investors to raise confidence in Canada's business sector.

Outlining its plans to maintain the current governance regime, the group explained that it had received numerous comments about the timing of the proposal, particularly considering the turbulent market.

Jean St-Gelais, chair of the CSA, explained that additional alterations to the governance regulations will not be considered until 2011.

He said: "We do not intend to implement the proposal as originally published. We are reconsidering whether to recommend any changes to the corporate governance regime."

Earlier this year, two Canadian corporate governance experts - Jonathan Drance and Edward Waitzer - suggested that it is unrealistic to expect part-time non-executives to play an effective role in risk management.