A number of us advocated from the start that the right approach would be to increase the OS and AS (if necessary) and keep the float (ie. existing CLHI shares) the same. Benefits all parties concerned. Unfortunately, Stephenson got bad advice from someone (I believe the IR guy and perhaps Percy, but I can't confirm the latter) and acted on it.
He'll need additional shares to do acquisitions, but he can manage the flow into the market through the issuance of preferred shares as you suggest.