Industry committee  There are no specific provisions in terms of those requirements in this bill. I'll leave it to my colleague if he has anything to add. I'm not fully informed in terms of different options one might look to in terms of trade acts and so forth. That's not addressed in the bill specifically.

Industry committee  The non-financial co-op sector falls under the responsibility of the department. We have an active exchange with the sector. If I fully understand, they've been seeking support in terms of co-op financing, and this is something in all business sectors, but in particular the co-op sector.

Industry committee  I'll start and go back to the point about the provincial systems that have taken on comply or explain. The TSX would be notable, and it applies to most of corporate Canada. I can't speak to how they would view how this is unfolding in what they have put in place. I certainly acknowledge the statistics and the points you are raising in terms of the progress made so far.

Industry committee  —this is an invitation for the business community to respond to that call.

Industry committee  From that point of view—

Industry committee  I won't try to artificially discern the weighting of the views. I think the area of diversity that is represented most clearly and probably most frequently in the submissions we received is that of gender. This is one also where there is more data, more evidence in terms of where we stand.

Industry committee  I'll start, and then I'll ask my colleague to add a few comments. I'll go back to the intention of the changes in the voting rules, which is a part of the question. What's being done is to change from what's called a pluralist model to a majority-vote model, which has been called for by experts in corporate governance, particularly those on the owner side, in order to improve the responsiveness of the folks who are put forward for board positions to the shareholders by requiring they have majority support rather than simply perhaps one “yes” vote, with all the other votes being uncontested, or being part of a slate, which doesn't allow for differentiation between different directors.

Industry committee  What's at the heart of the change, in terms of the notice and access system, is relieving companies of costs by using digital conveyance for a lot of paper that otherwise has to be prepared and mailed to shareholders. That's a big win in terms of the costs of doing business. In terms of the rollout of these changes, I think we've been quite mindful that at one level we're addressing 10% or thereabouts of the market share of incorporated entities in the country.

Industry committee  Mr. Chair, I think I'll just go back to the drafting concept. The word is not defined in the statute, and this was purposeful. If we were seeking a definition, I would imagine there would be many views on what would be included in that definition. I think the bill provides for a diversity of approaches in the corporate sector to address this idea.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question. What requires some understanding is that there are 270,000 companies covered under the Canada Business Corporations Act, but the diversity policy will apply to distributing corporations, which number around 3,000, of which around 600 are on the TSX.

Industry committee  In the course of the consultations, starting in 2014, the department received views from various interests, including those particularly interested in enhancing diversity and enhancing representativeness in Canada's corporate sector, so that was within the consultation process. Of course, we also monitor very closely the positions of stakeholder groups and organizations in this regard—

Industry committee  I think it's quite widely known that there's interest in seeing improvement in this regard.

Industry committee  In terms of the statute, the bill doesn't set out a specific definition. The purpose of this is really essentially to invite the corporate sector to consider this in its broadest possible terms and in its broadest possible context in respect of their operations.

Industry committee  We'll see over time how they actually implement this through the disclosures they'll make to their shareholders.

Industry committee  Is it not the case that the letter that was provided to the committee by the minister...? Yes, certainly. I think the question that I was answering earlier was in respect of the law, and the definition of diversity is left essentially to practice, as it would unfold. Certainly in terms of the regulatory steps that would follow the law and what would be prescribed in regulation, it would be most clearly pointed out, as we see now with the TSX standard that now requires gender diversity to be reported on, but we'd also be inviting corporations to take advantage of the opportunity to file plans and represent broader diversity concepts, which I think could extend to a number of other areas.