Does ownership structure influence the relationship between firms' political connections and financial performance

The main aim of our study is to learn whether ownership structure moderates the relationship between firms' political connections and financial performance. After investigating the S&P/TSX Composite Index of Canadians companies for the 2010 to 2015 period inclusive, we conclude that on a long-term basis (six years of analysis), firms' political connections have a positive and significant effect on financial performance (when measured by ROA and Tobin's Q), ownership concentration does not significantly influence financial performance indicators, and more important, ownership structure does not mediate or moderate the relationship between political connections and firm financial performance. However, firms are less profitable when politically connected through their executive members.