Are you suggesting that it is now a conspiracy on the part of POET to keep its share price down through having that provision in place?

And that lowers the share price how?

Generally, the reason a share consolidation lowers a share price is because companies that use a share consolidation to get the share price up are usually troubled businesses that have seen their share price drop from a much higher level. These companies are typically concerned that the share price falling below a certain price level renders their equity ineligible for inclusion in certain institutional mandates. Players who are on the short side of the markets exploit that weakness in business fundamentals to continue shorting.

This is a very different situation.