Proxy Voting

Shareholders in public companies typically have voting rights associated with their shareholders. These voting rights allow shareholders (including institutions such as Fidelity, acting on behalf of all the mutual funds it manages) to vote at annual and special company meetings. Most shareholders, including the Fidelity Funds, generally submit votes by proxy rather than attend each meeting.

The typical agenda for a company meeting will include more than one proposal, such as the election of Directors, adoption of a stock option plan, or approval of a merger or acquisition. Proposals are more commonly put forth by the company’s management, but may be submitted by a shareholder as well. The company’s management may provide a voting recommendation for each proposal, and each proposal is evaluated separately by Fidelity relative to our Proxy Voting Guidelines.

Voting Results

Mutual funds in Canada, including the Fidelity Funds, must display their proxy voting records on their websites by August 31 of each year, covering the 12 month period ending June 30 of that year. Unitholders may also request a copy of the proxy voting record for this same period be delivered to them, at no charge, after August 31 of each year.

Please note that we do not provide proxy voting results for the Fidelity Income Replacement Portfolios™, Fidelity ClearPath™ Portfolios, the Fidelity Managed Portfolios, the Fidelity Private Investment Pools (except for the Fidelity Premium Fixed Income Capital Yield Private Pool), the Fidelity American High Yield Currency Neutral Fund, Fidelity Global Bond Currency Neutral Fund, Fidelity American Disciplined Equity Currency Neutral Fund, Fidelity Global Disciplined Equity Currency Neutral Fund, Fidelity International Disciplined Equity Currency Neutral Fund, the Fidelity Tactical Strategies Fund or for any of the Fidelity Capital Structure Corp. Funds. Since these funds invest all of their assets in other Fidelity Funds or Exchange Traded Funds, as applicable, they are not shareholders in any public companies and thus do not have any voting rights in respect of any public companies.

View proxy voting results by selecting a Fidelity fund  

Fidelity's Approach to Voting Proxies

Fidelity votes on behalf of the Fidelity Funds, according to the Proxy Voting Guidelines that have been approved by Fidelity, as trustee to the Fidelity Funds. Fidelity’s approach to proxy voting decisions is consistent with our approach to investment decisions: we evaluate proposals on economic merit and support those that are reasonably likely to enhance shareholder returns. With the focus on enhancing shareholder returns as the guiding theme, social considerations are generally not emphasized, in voting decisions.

To the extent that a company’s management is committed and incentivized to maximize shareholder value, we generally vote in favour of management’s proposal. However, adhering to our proxy voting guidelines does in fact sometimes result in our submitting proxy votes that are contrary to the recommendations in every proxy voting season. One example includes our voting against overly dilutives share compensation plans that do not adequately align management and shareholder interests. Fidelity can ultimately voice its opinions on the policies of management through the level of ownership the Fidelity Funds maintain in the individual companies.

In addition, Fidelity may choose not to exercise its voting rights at certain company meetings in instances where trading restrictions are placed on voted shares. This situation occurs most often in foreign countries in which voted shares cannot be traded from the time the vote is cast until the day after the meeting.

The complete Fidelity Proxy Voting Guidelines are available to view online.