Canadian shareholders 'should be given greater control'

Corporate governance standards in Canada could be improved by handing an expanded role to shareholders of public companies.

This is according to a new report from the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance, which has published new guidelines that aim to improve accountability and best practice standards within the nation.

Among the measures it recommends is the introduction of voting for individual directors, as opposed to slates of nominees, while advisory votes on executive pay have also been endorsed.

The guidelines also call for at least one position of every board committee to be held by an independent director.

"All public companies should strive to have their governance practices go beyond legal minima to ensure excellence," said the organisation.

This comes after Julie Dickson of Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions told the Globe and Mail earlier this year that the regulatory body will be seeking to pay greater attention to the role played by directors in corporate governance issues.