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April 2025 Advocacy Newsletter

Summary:

The instability and uncertainty flowing from the Trump Administration’s destructive policies on trade and immigration have made this a difficult month for investors and consumers. The Canadian Securities Administrators can and should rise to the resulting challenge by contributing to efforts to reduce internal barriers to trade within Canada. So far, however, they seem to instead be focused on staying aligned with policy priorities in Washington, D.C., announcing in April that they were pausing proposals to give investors access to meaningful information about their portfolio companies’ impact on climate change and approaches to fostering diversity in the upper echelons of their management.

It is unfortunate that our regulators took this step without offering any meaningful response to calls from the Canadian Advocacy Council and other stakeholder groups for decision-useful disclosure on matters that are material to investors. Rather than take their cues from Washington, Canadian securities regulators should take heed of local investor demand and regulatory trends in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and elsewhere towards disclosure requirements that offer a fuller picture of the social and environmental impacts of corporate decision-making.