Davies partner Patricia Olasker was quoted in a Lexpert article about the Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC’s) decision that found Eco Oro Minerals Corporation was using questionable tactics in blocking a proxy challenge.

Patricia, who has written on this topic, told Lexpert that the decision is part of a trend that has seen the OSC increasingly engaged in proxy contests. She explains, “This is a whole new area for the OSC and they’ve been slowly but surely entering the field and taking the principles they developed in the takeover-bid world and applying them to this new area of activity.” Patricia also said the decision is “further evidence of the OSC’s view that their mandate goes beyond their traditional role as the protector of buyers and sellers of securities to protecting investors as holders of securities.”

With Eco Oro appealing the OSC’s decision to the Ontario Divisional Court, Patricia expects a key issue on the appeal to be the scope of the commission’s jurisdiction to make the order they did. “They were very creative in using their frankly very limited powers to construct an order to achieve a good result. They don’t have the power to sterilize voting rights but by working backwards from the powers they have, they got to the same place. I think that will be the issue.”