What replacement employees earned becomes the benchmark in precedent-setting ruling
A 52-year-old Managing Director fired after 18 years at Canaccord Genuity Corp. has been awarded more than $2.5 million in damages following a wrongful dismissal case that establishes important precedent on how employers must calculate bonus entitlements during notice periods.
Justice Paul B. Schabas of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled on Jan. 28, 2026, that Craig Warren was entitled to 21 months' notice and rejected the employer's proposed three-year bonus averaging method in favor of a "comparator approach" based on what replacement employees earned during a once-in-a-decade bull market.
Warren was terminated without cause on Sept. 6, 2019, from his position as the only Managing Director in Canaccord's Toronto mining group. At the time, he was the longest-serving investment banker at the firm. His annual income depended heavily on discretionary bonuses that fluctuated based on the size of Canaccord's Canadian Capital Markets Pool and his individual performance.
The case centered on two disputes: the appropriate notice period and how to calculate the bonuses Warren would have received during that period. Canaccord argued for 16 months' notice and averaging Warren's last three years of bonuses. Warren sought 24 months' notice and bonuses based on what two Managing Directors who replaced him actually earned.
The court...
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