The Globe and Mail - 09.03.2020

MEETINGDATES
DATASUPPLIED BYISSUINGCOMPANIESTHROUGHTHESERVICEOFCDSCLEARINGANDDEPOSITORYSERVICESINC.
*=CHANGE INPREVIOUSLYREPORTED INFORMATION%=CANCELLEDMEETING;@=ADJOURNEDMEETING;A=ANNUAL;S=SPECIAL;G=GENERAL ;X=EXTRA;E=EXTRAORDINARY

Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. Mar 26 May 07 AG
Aeterna Zentaris Inc Apr 01 May 06 A
Aimia Inc. Mar 27 Apr 29 AS
Akita Drilling Ltd. Mar 25 May 12 A
Alamos Gold Inc. Apr 03 May 20 AG
Altius Minerals Corporation Mar 26 May 12 AS
Argonaut Gold Inc. Mar 30 May 13 AGS
AutoCanada Inc. Mar 25 May 08 AG
Baylin Technologies Inc. Mar 30 May 12 AGS
Birchcliff Energy Ltd. Mar 25 May 14 AS
Black Diamond Group Limited Mar 24 May 12 AG
Blok Technologies Inc. Feb 03 Apr 03 A
Boyd Group Services Inc. Mar 25 May 13 AG
Bridgemarq Real Estate Service Mar 27 May 12 AS
Bullfrog Gold Corp. Mar 28 May 15 AG
BNK Petroleum Inc Mar 26 Apr 30 AG
Canna-V-Cell Sciences Inc. *Feb 11 Mar 30 AGS
Cannabis Growth Opp. Corp. Mar 26 Apr 30 AS
Cannabis One Holdings Inc. Mar 25 Apr 29 AS

CanWel Building Materials Grp Mar 24 May 14 A

Cardinal Energy Ltd. Mar 25 May 13 A

Centerra Gold Inc. Mar 23 May 01 A

Chartwell Retirement Residence Mar 26 May 14 AG

Chesswood Group Limited Mar 26 May 12 AG

Chorus Aviation Inc. Mar 23 May 15 A

Civeo Corporation Mar 25 May 14 AGS

Cominar REIT Mar 31 May 13 AGS

Commerce Resources Corp. Apr 02 May 13 AGS

Condor Gold PLC Mar 27 May 27 AEG

Crown Capital Partners Inc. Mar 26 May 05 AGS

Cypherpunk Holdings Inc Mar 25 May 11 A

Dealnet Capital Corp. Mar 23 May 07 AG

EcoSynthetix Inc. Mar 26 May 20 AS

Ely Gold Royalties Inc. Mar 23 May 06 AS

Enablence Technologies Inc. Mar 24 Apr 28 AGS

Entree Resources Ltd. Mar 26 Apr 30 AG

Equinox Gold Corp. *Mar 19 May 15 AS

GoldMining Inc. Mar 23 May 21 AG

Greenfields Petroleum Corp. Mar 18 Apr 17 S

GDI Integrated Facility Serv. Mar 27 May 08 A

High Liner Foods Incorporated Mar 23 May 12 A

Intertape Polymer Group Inc. Mar 27 May 13 A

InterRent REIT Mar 25 May 07 A

IPL Plastics Inc. Mar 23 May 14 AS

Keyera Corp. Mar 25 May 12 AG

Killam Apartment REIT Mar 25 May 07 AG

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. Mar 27 May 05 AS

Knight Therapeutics Inc. Mar 25 May 13 A

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. Mar 25 Apr 29 A

Maverix Metals Inc. Mar 30 May 14 A

Medical Facilities Corporation Mar 26 May 14 AG

Morneau Shepell Inc. Mar 24 May 08 AS

Mustgrow Biologics Corp. May 21 Jun 25 AGS

MCAN Mortgage Corporation Mar 23 May 12 AG

MTY Food Group Inc Mar 27 May 01 AG

NamSys Inc. Mar 23 Apr 29 A

New Klondike Exploration Ltd. Mar 24 May 04 S

New Look Vision Group Inc. Mar 27 May 08 A

Noble Mineral Exploration Inc. *Mar 09 Apr 27 AGS

Norvista Capital Corporation Mar 25 Apr 29 AGS

Novoheart Holdings Inc. Mar 24 Apr 29 AG

NuVista Energy Ltd Mar 25 May 05 AGS

Oncolytics Biotech Inc. Mar 23 May 07 A

Otis Gold Corp. Mar 13 Apr 17 AGS

Parex Resources Inc. Mar 26 May 05 AS

Parkland Fuel Corporation Mar 24 May 07 AGS

Permex Petroleum Corporation Mar 24 Apr 30 A

Perpetual Energy Inc Mar 27 May 13 AG

Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. Mar 26 May 05 AG

Precision Drilling Corporation Mar 25 May 14 AS

Premium Brands Holdings Corp. Mar 23 May 08 AG

Prominex Resource Corp. Mar 23 Apr 27 AGS

PHX Energy Services Corp. Mar 24 May 07 AGS

Quest Pharmatech Inc. Mar 24 Apr 28 AGS

Regal Resources Inc. Mar 17 Apr 23 AG

Resolute Forest Products Inc. Mar 16 May 12 A

Richards Packaging Income Fund Mar 23 May 04 A

Rider Investment Capital Corp. Mar 23 Apr 30 AGS

Savaria Corporation Mar 30 May 13 AG

ShawCor Ltd. Mar 31 May 13 A

Spark Power Group Inc. Mar 30 May 12 A

Strad Inc. Mar 16 Apr 20 S

SustainCo Inc. Mar 24 Apr 27 AGS

Sylogist Ltd. Mar 23 May 11 AGS

SSR Mining Inc. Mar 26 May 14 AGS

Taiga Building Products Ltd. Mar 27 May 06 AG

Torq Resources Inc. Apr 24 Jun 11 AG

TransGlobe Energy Corporation Mar 27 May 13 AGS

Trisura Group Ltd. Mar 26 May 07 A

Vext Science Inc. Apr 09 May 14 AG

Western Forest Products Inc. Mar 25 May 07 AG

Xphyto Therapeutics Corp. Apr 14 May 20 AG

Yellow Pages Limited Mar 18 May 13 AS

RECORD MEETING TYPE

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MONDAY,MARCH9,2020| THEGLOBEANDMAILO B9

GLOBEINVESTOR

REPORTONBUSINESS|

T

he popularity of exchange-
traded funds on the Toron-
to Stock Exchange has
reached a once-unthinkable
milestone: They now outnumber
individual stocks.
A frenzy of product launches
catering to every conceivable
theme, style sector and country
has pushed the total number of
ETFs above that of actual operat-
ing companies on the TSX. As of
the end of January, there were
804 ETFs and other structured
products,comparedwith786cor-
porate listings. In January alone,
seven providers introduced 25
new ETFs into the Canadian
market.
The proliferation of ETFs over
the past decade has occurred at
the same time as the ranks of list-
ed operating companies have
thinned out.
“We have public markets that
are more attractive to investors
than to companies,” said Bryce
Tingle, who holds the Murray Ed-
wards chair of business law at the
University of Calgary.
These shifts would have been
difficult to fathom 30 years ago,
when ETFs were conceived. On
March 9, 1990, the world’s first

ETF began trading on the TSX,

setting the prototype that would

ultimately transform how the in-

vesting masses access financial

markets.

The idea for the Toronto 35 In-

dexParticipationFund,knownas

TIPs, was to give regular investors

access to a diversified basket of

equities, with near-zero manage-

ment fees, in a security that

trades just like a stock. TIPs

helped spawn a global industry

that has now accumulated more

than US$6-trillion in assets – a to-

tal that doubled in less than four

years.

ETFs are listed in 58 countries.

Iran has a series ofsharia-compli-

ant real estate ETFs. The Hong

KonggovernmentcreatedETFsto

sell shares it accumulated during

the Asian financial crisis of the

late 1990s. And the Bank of Japan

uses ETFs in its quantitative eas-

ing program, buying up hun-

dreds of billions of dollars’ worth

of equity funds to inject liquidity

into the financial system.

The ETF seems almost tailor-

made for the bull market in

stocks, which started more than a

decade ago. Ultralow interest

rates have pushed investors out

of savings vehicles and bonds in

search of anything with a decent

yield. Heightened awareness

around fees has made ETFs an at-

tractive alternative to mutual

funds. And the steady drumbeat

of record highs has drawn the in-

vesting public into the stock mar-

ket, which is readily accessible

through an array of ETFs.

“Anybody can do this now,”

saidLorneSteinberg,presidentof

Montreal-based Lorne Steinberg

Wealth Management. “The mar-

ket keeps going up every day and

they think, ‘I’ve got to get a piece

of it.’ ”

The ETF business has evolved

way beyond plain-vanilla, broad-

market, low-cost equity expo-

sure. Today, investors can readily

access sector ETFs, factor ETFs,

volatility ETFs, smart beta ETFs

and liquid alt ETFs.

“Some of the exotic ETFs are

incredibly complex,” Mr. Stein-

berg said. “They’re difficult for

me to understand.” Horizons Be-

taPro Crude Oil 2x Bull and Bear

funds, for example, are designed

to double the return of a regular

crude ETF. Not only are they

highly volatile, both the bull and

the bear versions declined in

2016. “How could they both lose

money in the same year?” Mr.

Steinberg asked.

Critics have long warned the

trillionsofdollarsinpassivestrat-

egies could distort asset prices,

sowing the seeds of the next mar-

ket crash.

Last September, celebrity in-

vestor Michael Burry, who fa-

mously anticipated the U.S. sub-

prime mortgage crisis, said he is

among those seeing an ETF bub-

ble. “Like most bubbles, the long-

er it goes on, the worse the crash

will be,” Mr. Burry told Bloom-

berg News.

And yet, the ETF space, while

drawing in vast sums of money,

controls only a small share of in-

vestable assets globally. Most es-

timates put that number at

around 10 per cent, said Robert

Duncan, a portfolio manager at

Forstrong Global Asset Manage-

ment. In Canada, ETFs have accu-

mulated assets of $211-billion, as

of the end of January, compared

with more than $1.6-trillion that

still sits in Canadian mutual

funds.

In other words, the ETF indus-

try, either globally or in Canada,

is nowhere close to the size re-

quired to distort the overall stock

market, Mr. Duncan said. “The

pendulum will probably swing

too far into passive at some

point,” he said. “Then the market

will naturally correct, and people

will sell index products and buy

active managers.”

One thing the critics have got

right, however, is that Canadian

investors probably don’t need

several hundred ETFs to choose

from, Mr. Duncan added.

At the same time, the steady

decline of the Canadian pool of

corporate listings shows no sign

of reversing. Since 2008, the

number of stocks on the TSX has

dropped by 36 per cent. There are

several reasons behind the long-

term decline of Canadian corpo-

rate listings, including the rise of

venture capital and private equi-

ty as alternatives to going public,

a regulatory burden for public

companies that has become

more onerous over time, and a

wave oftakeovers scooping up

smaller companies.

“The TSX and the [Ontario Se-

curities Commission] have never

acknowledged arresting the de-

cline of listed issuers as a prior-

ity,” Mr. Tingle said. “Will this

change now that we have passed

this milestone?”

ETFsnowoutnumberstocksontheTSX

Riseofexchange-traded

fundsoverpastdecade

comesamiddwindling

numberofcorporate

listingsinCanada

TIMSHUFELT
INVESTMENTREPORTER

AmanglancesatTSXdatainTorontolastweek.Asoftheendof

January,theexchangeoffered804ETFsandotherstructuredproducts,

comparedwith786corporatelistings.CODYPUNTER/THEGLOBEANDMAIL

I’

m still waiting for the day
when the Canada Revenue
Agency simplifies our tax
forms. Having said this, I realize
that simplification could be a bad
thing. The taxman could, for ex-
ample,reducethepersonaltaxre-
turn to one page. Perhaps you’ve
seen the proposed layout for that
form: Line 1 – Enter your total in-
come. Line 2 – Send it in. This
would not be good.
Asitturnsout,thetaxmanhas,
in fact, radically changed our tax
forms for this tax season, and
there have been other changes,
too.Today,Iwanttosharethevar-
ious changes that could affect
your tax filings or tax planning
this year.
New tax forms:Jan. 21 was an
excitingdayfortaxgeeksbecause

itwasthe“bigreveal,”whenanew

package of tax forms was intro-

duced. Your tax return has now

expanded from four pages to

eight, attempts to use plain lan-

guage,usesbiggerfontsandmore

white space, gets rid of Schedule 1

(where your tax used to be calcu-

lated) and has changed the line

numbers from three or four digits

to five. Exciting times.

Canada Training Credit:This

tax credit can be claimed starting

on your 2020 tax return for those

ages25to65whoincurtuitionand

training costs at eligible institu-

tions (you’ll accumulate $250 of

allowance each year to make this

claim, starting in 2019, to a $5,000

lifetime maximum).

Canada Workers Benefit:For

2019, the Canada workers benefit

(CWB–arefundable tax credit)

replaces the working income tax

benefit (WITB). The CWB is for

low-income earners and is en-

hanced and more accessible than

the WITB.

Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP):

The withdrawal limit for the HBP

was increased to $35,000 (from

$25,000) for withdrawals after

March 19, 2019. For those who

have gone through a marriage

breakdown,accesstotheHBPhas

been improved.

Medical Expense Tax Credit

(METC):Amounts paid for can-

nabisproductstobeusedbyapa-

tientformedicalpurposesmaybe

eligiblefortheMETCforexpenses

incurred after Oct. 16, 2018.

Donations of cultural prop-

erty:To qualify for the enhanced

tax relief on donations of cultural

property, the property no longer

needs to be of national impor-

tance, for donations on or after

March 19, 2019.

Zero-emission vehicles: If

you’re self-employed or claiming

employment expenses, you may

be eligible for enhanced capital

cost allowance (CCA, or deprecia-

tion expense) of 100 per cent

(thatis,thefullcostofthevehicle

may be deducted, within limits)

forcertainzero-emissionvehicles

starting on your 2019 tax return.

Multi-unit residential prop-

erties (MURP):If you change the

use of a MURP (from income-

producing to non-income-

producing, or vice versa) on or af-

ter March 19, 2019, you can elect

that the deemed disposition that

would normally apply on a

change in use, not apply.

Climate action incentive:

Residents of provinces that are

subject to the federal govern-

ment’s carbon tax backstop pro-

gram (Alberta, Saskatchewan,

Manitoba and Ontario) can re-

ceive climate action incentive

payments.Youcanclaimtheseon

your tax return.

Tax-free savings accounts:

The contribution limit for TFSAs

increased to $6,000 for 2019 (this

limit also applies in 2020). Also,

starting in 2019, you could be lia-

ble for taxes owing on any busi-

nessincomeearnedbyyourTFSA.

Tax credit for digital sub-

scriptions:You can claim a new

non-refundable tax credit for

amounts paid after 2019 and be-

fore 2025 for eligible digital news

subscriptions with a qualified

Canadian journalism organiza-

tion (to a maximum of $75).

Registered disability savings

plans (RDSP):Changes intro-

duced in the 2019 budget will

make it possible in many cases to

keep an RDSP open even if the

beneficiary ceases to be eligible

for the disability tax credit (DTC).

These enhancements apply after

2020, but transitional rules may

provide the same result even to-

dayifabeneficiaryceasestoqual-

ify for the DTC.

Kinship care providers:A

care provider may be entitled to

claim a child as an eligible de-

pendant for purposes of the CWB

and the former WITB, discussed

earlier, even if the care provider

receives government assistance

under a kinship care program.

Further, that assistance will no

longerbetaxable.Thisappliesret-

roactively back to 2009 and later

years.

Automobile deductions and

benefits:There are certain limits

on the amount of CCA and lease

costs that can be deducted for a

vehicle. Those limits remain un-

changed from 2018 when filing

your 2019 tax return. Tax-exempt

allowances, however, increased

by three cents a kilometre, and

operating cost benefits (where

youremployercoverspartofyour

operating costs) have increased

by two cents a kilometre.

Employee stock options:For

employee stock options granted

after 2019, there will be a limit to

the value of options that can be

exercised and still be entitled to

the stock-option deduction. The

limit will be $200,000 annually.

Taxchangestokeepinmindbeforefilingyourreturn

TIM
CESTNICK

OPINION

TAXMATTERS

FCPA,FCA,CPA(IL),CFP,TEP,
author,andco-founderandCEO
ofOurFamilyOfficeInc.

MONDAY

Canadian housing starts for
February are released. Analyst
estimate is an annualized rate
decline of 3.9 per cent.
Canadian building permits
for January are reported. Esti-
mate is down 3 per cent from
December.
Earnings include:Endeavour
Mining Corp.; Ensign Energy
Services Inc.; Franco-Nevada
Corp.; Linamar Corp.; Optiva
Inc.; Tervita Corp.

TUESDAY

Euro zone reports real GDP.

U.S. NFIB Small Business

Economic Trends Survey for

February is released.

Quebec and New Brunswick

unveil provincial budgets.

Earnings include:Bird Con-

struction Inc.; AirBoss of Amer-

ica Corp.; Crew Energy Inc.;

Horizon North Logistics Inc.;

BSR REIT; Minto Apartment

REIT; Morneau Shepell Inc.;

Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd.

WEDNESDAY

Canada’s capacity utilization

for fourth quarter is reported.

Estimate is 81.1 per cent, down

from 81.7 per cent in Q3.

U.S. reports CPI for February.

The consensus expectation is

unchanged from January and up

2.2 per cent year-over-year.

U.S. Treasury budget for

February is reported.

Earnings include:Badger Day-

lighting Ltd.; Hexo Corp.; Magel-

lan Aerospace Corp.

THURSDAY

U.S. reports jobless claims for

week of March 7. Estimate is

218,000, up 2,000 from the

previous week.

U.S. reports PPI for February.

The Street expects a decline of

0.1 per cent from January and a

rise of 1.8 per cent year-over-

year.

Earnings include:Ag Growth

International Inc.; Dorel Indus-

tries Inc.; Quebecor Inc.; Transat

A.T. Inc.

FRIDAY

Canadian new motor vehicle

sales for January are reported.

Estimate is a rise of 0.5 per cent

year-over-year.

Canada’s National Balance

Sheet, Financial Flow Accounts

for fourth quarter are released.

U.S. reports import prices for

February. Consensus is a decline

of 1 per cent from January and

down 1.7 per cent year-over-year.

Earnings include:Total Energy

Services Inc.

WHATYOUNEEDTOKNOWFORTHEWEEKAHEAD