B.C. is not among the seven provinces and two territories that will require companies to report on their plans to improve the proportion of women on boards of directors – despite the fact women make up less than 7 per cent of board memberships at the top 100 public companies based in this province.
B.C. is not among the seven provinces and two territories that will require companies to report on their plans to improve the proportion of women on boards of directors – despite the fact women make up less than 7 per cent of board memberships at the top 100 public companies based in this province.
The seven provinces and two territories – including Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories – last month signed on to the new standards, which require companies to annually disclose their policies for improving the number of women on boards.
Adrian Dix, a B.C. NDP MLA and the party's former leader, said women account for just 6.6 per cent of board membership at B.C.'s top 100 public companies, or 46 of 700 positions.
Mr. Dix said he compiled the numbers with the assistance of the B.C. legislative library. He said they examined the boards for the top 100 B.C.-based public companies, a list of which is put together each year by the magazine Business in Vancouver. Mr. Dix said 69 of the 100 companies have no women directors, while 22 only have one; nine companies have two or more women directors.
"I think it's a disappointing finding," he said in an interview. "It simply doesn't reflect the market. Clearly, boards of directors of public companies are missing out … on a huge number of qualified and outstanding people."
Mr. Dix said B.C. should join the provinces and territories that have signed on to the new disclosure requirements. Only B.C., Alberta, Prince Edward Island and Yukon have abstained.
Liz Watson, founder and president of Watson Advisors Inc., which helps boards find top talent, said more diverse boards have been shown to make better decisions. She said female board members bring a different perspective, and are unlikely to let a decision go unchallenged.
Ms. Watson, a lawyer who also serves on the board of directors for St. George's School in Vancouver, said one explanation for poor representation of women on B.C. boards could be the resource sector, particularly mining. She said mining companies have historically been slow to bring women to the table, though she said that is changing.
The numbers provided by Mr. Dix say the representation of women on boards in the mining, oil and gas sector is about 5.8 per cent. Finance and insurance, in comparison, had a rate of 14.6 per cent. Mr. Dix said B.C.'s Crown corporations historically have also had poor representation of women on their boards.
Richard Gilhooley, a spokesman for the B.C. Securities Commission, said it was the Ontario Securities Commission that developed the framework the other provinces and territories signed on to, after the OSC consulted with Ontario companies.
"The framework may not be appropriate for the B.C. market or for local companies. The BCSC is reluctant to impose new requirements on B.C. issuers without first consulting locally with market participants to assess whether the costs of compliance for B.C. issuers are justified by the benefits," Mr. Gilhooley said in an interview.
When asked if BCSC is consulting with companies in this province about a similar concept, he said no.
Kevan Hannah, a spokesman for the Manitoba Securities Commission, said it was not concerned about signing on to the policy despite the fact the consultation was done with Ontario companies. "We published our proposed rule changes for comment (as we do for all our rules), and Manitoba-based companies provided generally supportive feedback and suggestions for some minor changes to the final form of rule," he wrote in an e-mail.
A spokeswoman for B.C.'s Ministry of Finance, in an e-mail, said public companies are required to disclose their board composition, so the public can find out how many women are on a board "and make their preferences known."
The spokeswoman also noted that the B.C. Premier's Women's Economic Council was announced in April. The council will deliver advice to government on several issues, including policies to further support female business owners and workers, the spokeswoman said.
With a report from Janet McFarland