Given that in-person annual meetings are the only opportunity shareholders have in the year to engage with members of the board and the executive team and discuss the issues facing the Corporation, it is paramount to preserve and encourage this dialogue, which is beneficial in many respects. As a reminder, we note that the CSA have recently provided update guidance to encourage issuers to hold hybrid (in-person and virtual)6 annual meetings, that the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance7 [2] advises against holding virtual-only meetings because this could have the effect of limiting shareholder voices and that one of the new criteria to be taken into consideration by the Board Games of the Globe and Mail in assessing the quality of the governance of corporations will be whether such corporations hold hybrid meetings, with no point being earned by corporations holding in-person or virtualonly meetings.
In the same manner that the physical attendance of employees is now being encouraged in order to foster enhanced communication and team spirit, the importance of holding in-person annual meetings should be acknowledged while also providing an option for shareholders to participate remotely. We have duly noted that Cogeco’s 2025 annual meeting was a hybrid meeting, namely a meeting held in person that also offered the option to participate remotely. This format is highly preferable to a virtual-only meeting, there is no doubt about that, and this shareholder proposal is thus intended to ensure that Cogeco maintain the in-person format in future.
6
https://www.securities-administrators.ca/news/canadian-securities-regulators-provide-updated-guidance-on-virtual-shareholder-meetings/
7
https://ccgg.ca/policies/