director’s exercise of independent judgment. In addition to any other requirement of applicable securities laws or stock exchange provisions, a director who:
(a) is or was an employee or executive officer, or whose Immediate Family Member is or was an executive officer, of the Corporation is not independent until three years after the end of such employment relationship;
(b) is receiving or has received, or whose Immediate Family Member is an executive officer of the Corporation and is receiving or has received, during any 12-month period within the last three years more than CA$75,000 in direct compensation from the Corporation, other than director and committee fees and pension or other forms of fixed compensation under a retirement plan (including deferred compensation) for prior service (provided such compensation is not contingent in any way on continued service), is not independent;
(c) is or was a partner of, affiliated with or employed by, or whose Immediate Family Member is or was a partner of or employed in an audit, assurance, or tax compliance practice in a professional capacity by, the Corporation’s present or former internal or external auditor, is not independent until three years after the end of such partnership, affiliation, or employment relationship, as applicable, with the auditor;
(d) is or was employed as, or whose Immediate Family Member is or was employed as, an executive officer of another company (or its parent or a subsidiary) where any of the present (at the time of review) executive officers of the Corporation serve or served on that company’s (or its parent’s or a subsidiary’s) compensation committee, is not independent until three years after the end of such service or the employment relationship, as applicable; and
(e) is an executive officer or an employee of, or whose Immediate Family Member is an executive officer of, another company (or its parent or a subsidiary) that has made payments to, or received payments from, the Corporation for property or services in an amount which, in any of the last three fiscal years exceeds the greater of US$1 million or 2% of such other company’s consolidated gross revenues, in each case, is not independent.
Additionally, an Independent Director for the purposes of the Audit Committee and the Management Resources and Compensation Committee, specifically may not:
(x) accept directly or indirectly, any consulting, advisory, or other compensatory fee from the Corporation, other than director and committee fees and pension or other forms of fixed compensation under a retirement plan (including deferred compensation) for prior service (provided such compensation is not contingent in any way on continued service); or
(y) be an affiliated person of the Corporation (within the meaning of applicable rules and regulations).
Furthermore, an Independent Director for the purposes of the Management Resources and Compensation Committee, specifically may not:
(x) have a relationship with senior management that would impair the director’s ability to make independent judgments about the Corporation’s executive compensation.
For the purposes of the definition of Independent Director, the term Corporation includes any parent or subsidiary in a consolidated group with the Corporation.
In addition to the requirements for independence set out in paragraph (c) above, Members of the Audit and Governance and Nominating Committees must disclose any other form of association they have with a current or former external or internal auditor of the Corporation to the Governance and Nominating Committee for a determination as to whether this association affects the Member’s status as an Independent Director.
“Management Resources and Compensation Committee” means the management resources and compensation committee of the Board.
“Risk Management Committee” means the risk management committee of the Board.
2024 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION CIRCULAR/ A-5