In a decision rendered this afternoon, The Quebec Securities Commission ordered Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg, the co-founders of Cinar Corp. to pay a fine of $1 million each.

The pair are also banned from acting as directors or executives at any publicly-traded Canadian firm for five years.

Weinberg and Charest are also prohibited from exercising their voting rights on any shares that they own in the election of Cinar directors for five years.

The QSC said the penalties are the largest it has ever handed down. The penalties were included a deal worked out with the QSC’s enforcement division last week and approved Friday.

The QSC’s director of compliance and enforcement alleged that the pair were involved with various subjects related to tax shelters, tax credits, copyrights and unauthorized investments in the Bahamas.