A Quebec shareholder advocacy group won yet another legal battle against one of Canada’s most powerful giants after it swayed the Quebec Court of Appeal that shareholders should have the right to ask to examine the financial statements of the corporation’s subsidiaries.
In a precedent-setting ruling, the appeal court held that section 157 of the Canada Business Corporations Act (Act) legally allows corporations to consolidate their financial statements, as recommended by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Handbook, as well as permits “curious and sophisticated” shareholders to have free access to the financial statements of a corporation’s operating segments.