Board Games 2025 Analysis
An analysis of the 26 S&P/TSX Composite companies that dropped 5 or more points in the Globe & Mail’s annual governance ranking — and what it means for their boards.
Every December, the Globe and Mail and Global Governance Advisors release their Board Games rankings — a rigorous assessment of corporate governance quality across all S&P/TSX Composite Index companies. For the 24th consecutive year, boards are scored on 36 specific criteria covering board composition, compensation practices, and shareholder rights.
While most of the attention goes to the leaders (Fortis and TD tied at 99), the biggest story is in the declines. Twenty-six companies dropped 5 or more points year-over-year — signaling potential gaps in governance infrastructure that shareholders, proxy advisors, and regulators are watching closely.
| Company | Ticker | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celestica Inc. | CLS-T | 95 | 81 | -14 |
| Shopify Inc. | SHOP-T | 47 | 36 | -11 |
| Restaurant Brands International Inc. | QSR-T | 71 | 61 | -10 |
| Nuvista Energy Ltd. | NVA-T | 71 | 62 | -9 |
| Gildan Activewear Inc. | GIL-T | 92 | 84 | -8 |
| Thomson Reuters Corp. | TRI-T | 85 | 77 | -8 |
| Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. | WDO-T | 85 | 77 | -8 |
| Teck Resources Ltd. | TECK-B-T | 83 | 75 | -8 |
| Aya Gold & Silver Inc. | AYA-T | 72 | 64 | -8 |
| Atco Ltd. | ACO-X-T | 47 | 39 | -8 |
| Killam Apartment REIT | KMP-UN-T | 86 | 79 | -7 |
| Premium Brands Holdings Corp. | PBH-T | 82 | 75 | -7 |
| BCE Inc. | BCE-T | 97 | 91 | -6 |
| Suncor Energy Inc. | SU-T | 92 | 87 | -5 |
| Rogers Communications Inc. | RCI-b-T | 43 | 38 | -5 |
The most common area of regression is in formal board evaluation systems. Companies that conducted peer evaluations in prior years but stopped — or switched from external to self-assessment — lost 1-3 points on this single criterion. Board portal software with built-in evaluation workflows ensures this never lapses.
Five of the criteria relate to environmental responsibility, climate goals, climate standards adoption, climate expertise on the board, and climate training. Companies that haven’t added climate-specific director education or TCFD/ISSB alignment lost multiple points here. Aprio’s director education tracking ensures your board meets these escalating requirements.
Historical compensation disclosure (showing multi-year CEO pay vs company performance) and adjusted financial metrics reconciliation are critical scoring areas. Boards without structured compensation dashboards often fail to produce the IFRS/GAAP reconciliation tables that assessors look for.
Companies scored on women’s representation, diverse group representation, and formal diversity policies. Those that lost board members or failed to renew diversity commitments dropped up to 4 points in this category. A real-time skills matrix in your board portal enables proactive succession planning to prevent these gaps.
Aprio’s board portal automates the exact governance processes that the Globe & Mail evaluates — evaluations, education tracking, skills matrices, and compensation reconciliation.
Aprio board portal helps organizations streamline governance, ensure compliance, and run more effective meetings.
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