Advance Notice of Meetings of Shareholders
(1) Subject only to the Business Corporations Act, Applicable Securities Law and these Articles of the Company, only persons who are nominated in accordance with the following procedures shall be eligible for election as directors of the Company. Nominations of persons for election to the board may be made at any annual general meeting of shareholders, or at any special meeting of shareholders, if the election of directors is a matter specified in the notice of meeting,
(a) by or at the direction of the board, including pursuant to a notice of meeting;
(b) by or at the direction or request of one or more shareholders pursuant to a proposal made in accordance with the provisions of the Business Corporations Act, or a requisition of the shareholders made in accordance with the provisions of the Business Corporations Act; or
(c) by any person (a “Nominating Shareholder”) who (A) at the close of business on the date of the giving of the notice provided for in this Article 10.9 and on the record date for notice of such meeting, is entered in the securities register as a holder of one or more shares carrying the right to vote at such meeting or who beneficially owns shares that are entitled to be voted at such meeting and provides evidence of such beneficial ownership to the Company, and (B) complies with the notice procedures set forth below in this Article 10.9.
(2) In addition to any other applicable requirements, for a nomination to be made by a Nominating Shareholder, the Nominating Shareholder must have given timely notice thereof in proper written form to the Corporate Secretary of the Company at the principal executive offices of the Company in accordance with this Article 10.9.
(3) To be timely, a Nominating Shareholder’s notice to the Corporate Secretary of the Corporation must be made:
(a) in the case of an annual meeting of shareholders, not less than 30 nor more than 65 days prior to the date of the meeting; provided, however, that in the event that the annual meeting of shareholders is to be held on a date that is less than 50 days after the date on which the first public announcement (as defined below) of the date of the meeting was made (the “Notice Date”), notice by the Nominating Shareholder may be made not later than the close of business on the tenth (10th) day following the date of the public announcement in respect of such meeting; and
(b) in the case of a special meeting (which is not also an annual meeting) of shareholders called for the purpose of electing directors (whether or not called for other purposes), not later than the close of business on the fifteenth (15th) day following the day on which the first public announcement of the date of the meeting was made. In no event shall any adjournment, postponement, or reconvening of a meeting, or the announcement thereof commence a new time period for the giving of a Nominating Shareholder’s notice as described above.
(4) To be in proper written form, a Nominating Shareholder’s notice to the Corporate Secretary of the Company must set forth:
(a) as to each person whom the Nominating Shareholder proposes to nominate for election as a director, (A) the name, age, business address and residential address of the person, (B) the principal occupation or employment of the person, (C) the class or series and number of shares in the capital of the Company which are controlled or which are beneficially owned or of record by the person as of the record date for the meeting of shareholders (if such date shall then have been made publicly available and shall have occurred) and as of the date of such notice, and (D) any other information relating to the person that would be required to be disclosed in a dissident’s proxy circular in connection with solicitations of proxies for election of directors pursuant to the Business Corporations Act or any Applicable Securities Laws; and (b) as to the Nominating Shareholder giving the notice, any proxy, contract, arrangement, understanding or relationship pursuant to which such Nominating Shareholder has a right to vote any shares of the Company and any other information relating to such Nominating Shareholder that would be required to be made in a dissident’s proxy circular in connection with solicitations of proxies for election of directors pursuant to the Business Corporations Act and any Applicable Securities Laws.
The Company may require any proposed nominee to furnish such other information as may reasonably be required by the Company to determine the eligibility of such proposed nominee to serve as an independent director of the Company or that could be material to a reasonable shareholder’s understanding of the independence, or lack thereof, of such proposed nominee. In addition, to be considered timely and in proper written form, a Nominating Shareholder’s notice shall be promptly updated and supplemented, if necessary, so that the information provided or required to be provided in such notice shall be true and correct as of the record date for the meeting.
(5) No person shall be eligible for election as a director of the Company unless nominated in accordance with the provisions of this Article 10.9; provided, however, that nothing in this Article 10.9 shall be deemed to preclude discussion by a shareholder (as distinct from the nomination of directors) at a meeting of shareholders of any matter in respect of which he or she would have been entitled to submit a proposal pursuant to the provisions of the Business Corporations Act. The Chairman of the meeting shall have the power and duty to determine whether a nomination was made in accordance with the procedures set forth in the foregoing provisions and, if any proposed nomination is not in compliance with such foregoing provisions, to declare that such defective nomination shall be disregarded.
(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of these Articles, notice given to the Corporate Secretary of the Company pursuant to this Article 10.9 may only be given by personal delivery, facsimile
transmission or by email (provided that the Corporate Secretary of the Company has stipulated an email address for purposes of this notice), and shall be deemed to have been given and made only at the time it is served by personal delivery, email (at the address as aforesaid) or sent by facsimile transmission (provided that receipt of the confirmation of such transmission has been received) to the Corporate Secretary of the Company at the address of the principal executive offices of the Company; provided that if such delivery or electronic communication is made on a day which is not a business day or later than 5:00 p.m. (Vancouver time) on a day which is a business day, then such delivery or electronic communication shall be deemed to have been made on the subsequent day that is a business day.
(7) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the board may, in its sole discretion, waive the application this Article 10.9.
(8) For the purposes of this Article 10.9:
(a) “Applicable Securities Laws” means the applicable securities legislation of each relevant province and territory of Canada, as amended from time to time, the rules, regulations and forms made or promulgated under any such statute and the published national instruments, multilateral instruments, policies, bulletins and notices of the securities commissions and similar regulatory authorities of each province and territory of Canada;
(b) “beneficially owns” or “beneficially owned” means, in connection with the ownership of shares in the capital of the Company by a person, (i) any such shares as to which such person or any of such person’s Affiliates (as defined in the Business Corporations Act) owns at law or in equity, or has the right to acquire or become the owner at law or in equity, where such right is exercisable immediately or after the passage of time and whether or not on condition or the happening of any contingency or the making of any payment, upon the exercise of any conversion right, exchange right or purchase right attaching to any securities, or pursuant to any agreement, arrangement, pledge or understanding whether or not in writing; (ii) any such shares as to which such person or any of such person’s Affiliates (as defined in the Business Corporations Act) has the right to vote, or the right to direct the voting, where such right is exercisable immediately or after the passage of time and whether or not on condition or the happening of any contingency or the making of any payment, pursuant to any agreement, arrangement, pledge or understanding whether or not in writing; and (iii) any such shares which are owned beneficially within the meaning of this definition by any other person with whom such person is acting jointly or in concert with respect to the Company or any of its securities; and
(c) “public announcement” shall mean disclosure in a press release reported by a national news service in Canada, or in a document publicly filed by the Company under its profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval at www.sedar.com.