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Canadian CEO Pay Jumps Nearly 12 Percent as Shareholder Support Remains Strong
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Sustainable Finance Market & Regulatory Highlights | Q3 2026

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    Canadian CEO Pay Jumps Nearly 12 Percent as Shareholder Support Remains Strong

    TORONTO (October 14, 2026) – ISS-Corporate, a leading provider of robust SaaS and expert advisory services to companies globally, today released the results of an analysis of CEO pay changes and shareholder support for CEO pay packages at companies in the S&P/TSX index during the 2026 proxy season. The report found that median CEO compensation increased by nearly 12 percent year-over-year in fiscal (FY) 2025, and that this rise in median pay was accompanied by strong shareholder support for executive pay packages.

    Median CEO compensation among S&P/TSX Composite issuers increased by 11.8 percent in FY 2025, the analysis found, marking the largest annual increase since 2022 and significant change from more modest increases in 2023 and 2024. The rise was driven primarily by higher long-term incentive awards, which represented approximately 60 percent of median total CEO pay, consistent with boards’ increased emphasis on performance-based compensation and long-term retention. Base salary accounted for a relatively small portion of total compensation. Median CEO pay for FY 2025 stood at approximately CA$6 million.

    The elevated pay increases were met with investor approval, the study found, as shareholder Say-on-Pay support reached 96 percent in the 2026 proxy season and only a single company saw its advisory vote on executive compensation fail. The results reinforce the resilience of Say-on-Pay outcomes across the Canadian market and suggest investors did not view higher compensation levels or evolving incentive practices as warranting widespread opposition. Despite the high overall support, 12 issuers received less than 80 percent shareholder approval, indicating that investors continued to express their concerns regarding compensation practices at a meaningful subset of companies.

    ESG metrics remained a common feature of executive incentive plans among Canadian issuers, contrasting with sharp declines among U.S. companies. In FY 2025, approximately 64 percent of S&P/TSX Composite companies incorporated at least one ESG metric into their executive incentive plans, down from peak adoption in 2023 (69 percent of companies).  Despite this small decline, incorporation of at least one ESG metrics by Canadian issuers was significantly higher than in comparable U.S. markets, where just 35 percent of S&P 500 companies and 21 percent of the Russell 3000 (excluding S&P 500) incorporated an ESG metric.  The moderation in more recent years may indicate a shift toward fewer, more material metrics with clearer links to strategy, financial, and business performance rather than a reduction in focus on sustainability-related objectives.

    Chan Pedris, Managing Director at ISS-Corporate, said: “Support for executive compensation programs remains resilient, even as CEO pay increases and compensation structures continue to evolve. The findings underscore that investors remain focused on pay-for-performance alignment, equity plan dilution, and transparent disclosure, reinforcing the importance of compensation programs that are clearly linked to long-term value creation.”

    To download the full report, please click here.

    ISS-Corporate is a leading provider of robust SaaS and expert advisory services to companies, globally. ISS-Corporate’s data-driven, research-backed Compass platform empowers businesses to understand and shape the signals they send to institutional investors, regulators, lenders, and other key stakeholders. By delivering essential data, tools, and advisory services, ISS-Corporate can help businesses around the world to be more resilient, align with market demands, and proactively manage governance, compensation, sustainability, and cyber risk initiatives. ISS Corporate Solutions, Inc. (“ISS-Corporate”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) and part of the ISS STOXX GmbH group of companies. This document and all of the information contained in it, including without limitation all text, data, graphs, charts (collectively, the “Information”) is the property of ISS-Corporate or its affiliates. The Information may not be reproduced or disseminated in whole or in part without prior written permission of ISS-Corporate. ISS-Corporate MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION. ISS-Corporate provides advisory services, analytical tools and publications to companies to enable them to improve shareholder value and reduce risk through the adoption of improved corporate governance practices. The ISS STOXX Governance and Sustainability research teams, which are separate from ISS-Corporate, will not give preferential treatment to, and are under no obligation to support, any proxy proposal of a corporate issuer nor provide a favorable rating, assessment, and/or any other favorable results to a corporate issuer (whether or not that corporate issuer has purchased products or services from ISS-Corporate). No statement from an employee of ISS-Corporate should be construed as a guarantee that ISS STOXX will recommend that its clients vote in favor of any particular proxy proposal or provide a favorable rating, assessment or other favorable result. For more information, please visit https://www.iss-corporate.com

    ISS STOXX provides actionable insights through its comprehensive product offerings, proven expertise, and high-quality data that capital market participants around the world can use to inform their decision-making. Across indices, investment stewardship, corporate governance, sustainability, and fund intelligence, institutional investors and companies rely on us to help them manage investments, strengthen their governance practices, and bring new products to market. ISS STOXX, which is owned by Deutsche Börse Group, employs approximately 4,000 professionals operating across 34 locations in 20 countries. ISS STOXX’s clients include many of the world’s leading institutional investors and corporate issuers who turn to ISS STOXX for its objective and varied offerings.