《加拿大公司法》
Canada Corporations Act
Act current to 2013-11-26 and last amended on 2011-10-17. Previous Versions Notes : See coming into force provision and notes, where applicable. Shaded provisions are not in force. Help
R.S.C. 1970, c. C-32
Table of Contents
Canada Corporations Act
1 - SHORT TITLE
2 - PART I - COMPANIES WITH SHARE CAPITAL
2 - Application of Part
3 - Interpretation
4 - Preliminaries
5 - Formation of New Companies
15 - General Powers and Duties of Companies
20 - Change of Provisions of Letters Patent
21 - Contracts, etc.
24 - Head Office
25 - Name of Company
31 - Forfeiture of Charter
32 - Surrender of Charter
34 - Shares
44 - Calls
65 - Borrowing Powers
68 - Information as to Mortgages and Charges
74 - Prospectuses and Offers to the Public
102 - Meetings of Shareholders
109 - Books
117 - Accounts and Audit
134 - Arrangements and Compromises
138 - Evidence
144 - Procedure
149 - Offences and Penalties
151 - Fees and Regulations
153 - PART II - CORPORATIONS WITHOUT SHARE CAPITAL
158 - PART III - SPECIAL ACT CORPORATIONS
160 - PART IV - COMPANIES CLAUSES
160 - Interpretation
215 - PART V - INCIDENTAL POWERS OF CORPORATE BODIES CREATED OTHERWISE THAN BY LETTERS PATENT
217 - PART VI - PROVISIONS OF GENERAL APPLICATION
SCHEDULE
An Act respecting corporations
SHORT TITLE
Marginal note:Short title
1. This Act may be cited as the Canada Corporations Act.
1964-65, c. 52, s. 2.
PART ICOMPANIES WITH SHARE CAPITAL
A PPLICATION OF P ART
Marginal note:Application
2. This Part applies to
(a) all companies incorporated under it or the incorporation of
which is continued under it;
(b) companies incorporated under the Companies Act, chapter 119 of
the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1886, or to which that Act applied before the 15th day of May 1902, except loan companies;
(c) all companies incorporated under the Companies Act, 1902;
(d) all companies incorporated under the Companies Act, chapter 79
of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1906, or to which that Act applied;
(e) all companies incorporated under the Companies Act, chapter 27
of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1927.
R.S., 1970, c. C-32, s. 2;
R.S., 1970, c. 10(1st Supp.), s. 1.
I NTERPRETATION
Marginal note:Definitions
3. (1) In this Part and in all letters patent and supplementary letters patent issued under
“accounts receivable”
? comptes à recevoir ?
“accounts receivable” includes existing or future book debts, accounts, claims, moneys and choses in action or any class or part thereof and all contracts, securities, bills, notes, books,
instruments and other documents securing, evidencing or in any way relating to the same or any of them, but shall not include uncalled share capital of the company or calls made but not paid;
“court”
? cour ?
“court” means
(a) in Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and
Newfoundland, the Supreme Court,
(a.1) in Prince Edward Island, the Trial Division of the
Supreme Court,
(b) in Quebec, the Superior Court,
(c) in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and New Brunswick, the
Court of Queen’s Bench, and
(d) in Yukon, the Supreme Court of Yukon, in the Northwest
Territories, the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, and
in Nunavut, the Nunavut Court of Justice;
“debenture”
? débenture ?
“debenture” includes bonds, debenture stock, and any other
securities of a company that constitute or are entitled to the
benefit of a charge on the assets of the company;
“Department”
? ministère ?
“Department” means the Department of Consumer and Corporate
Affairs;
“director”
? administrateur ?
“director” includes any person occupying the position of director by whatever name he is called;
“document”
? document ?
“document” includes notice, order, certificate, register,
summons or other legal process;
“equity share”
? action donnant droit de vote ?
“equity share” means any share of any class of shares of a company carrying voting rights under all circumstances and any share of any class of shares carrying voting rights by reason of the occurrence of any contingency that has occurred and is continuing;
“judge”
? juge ?
“judge” means in the said respective Provinces and Territories
a judge of the said courts respectively;
“Minister”
? Ministre ?
“Minister” means the Minister of Industry;
“mortgage”
? hypothèque?
“mortgage” includes charge and hypothec;
“officer”
? fonctionnaire ?
“officer” means the chairman or vice-chairman of the board of directors, the president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, comptroller, general manager, managing director or any other
individual who performs functions for the company similar to those normally performed by an individual occupying any such office;
“private company”
? compagnie privée ?
“private company” means a company as to which by letters patent or supplementary letters patent
(a) the right to transfer its shares is restricted,
(b) the number of its shareholders is limited to fifty,
not including persons who are in the employment of the company and persons, who, having been formerly in the employment of the company, were, while in that employment, and have continued after the
termination of that employment to be shareholders of the company, two or more persons holding one or more shares jointly being counted as a single shareholder, and
(c) any invitation to the public to subscribe for any shares
or debentures of the company is prohibited;
“public company”
? compagnie publique ?
“public company” means a company that is not a private company;
“real estate” or “land”
? immeuble ? ou ? terre ?
“real estate” or “land” incl udes messuages, lands, tenements, and hereditaments of any tenure, and all immovable property of any kind;
“securities”
? valeurs ?
“securities” means any shares of a company or any debenture or other obligations of a company, whether secured or unsecured;
“shareholder”
? actionnaire ?
“shareholder” means every subscriber for or holder of a share in the capital stock of the company and includes the personal
representatives of a deceased shareholder and every person who
agrees with the company to become a shareholder;
“the company” or “a company”
? la compagnie ? ou ? une compagnie ?
“the company” or “a company” means any company to which this Part applies and “another company” or “any other company” means any company wherever or however incorporated;
“undertaking”
? entreprise ?
“undertaking” means the business of every kind which the company is authorized to carry on.
Marginal note:Special resolution
(2) A by-law mentioned in section 20, subsection 29(1), section 51 or 52 may be referred to as a “special resolution”.
R.S., 1970, c. C-32, s. 3;
R.S., 1970, c. 10(1st Supp.), s. 2;
1972, c. 17, s. 2;
1978-79, c. 11, s. 10;
1986, c. 35, s. 14;
1995, c. 1, s. 32;
1999, c. 3, s. 17;
2002, c. 7, s. 89(E).
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P RELIMINARIES
Marginal note:Provisions directory only
4.The provisions of this Part relating to matters preliminary to the issue of the letters patent or supplementary letters patent are directory only, and no letters patent or supplementary letters patent issued under this Part shall be held void or voidable on account of any irregularity or insufficiency in respect of any matter preliminary to the issue of the letters patent or supplementary letters patent.
1964-65, c. 52, s. 4.
F ORMATION OF N EW C OMPANIES
5.[Repealed, 2009, c. 23, s. 313]
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Marginal note:Grounds for winding-up company
5.6 (1) Where a company
(a) carries on a business that is not within the scope of the
objects set forth in its letters patent or supplementary letters patent,
(b) exercises or professes to exercise any powers that are
not truly ancillary or reasonably incidental to the objects set forth in its letters patent or supplementary letters patent,
(c) exercises or professes to exercise any powers expressly
excluded by its letters patent or supplementary letters patent,
the company is liable to be wound up and dissolved under the Winding-up Act upon the application of the Attorney General of Canada to a court of competent jurisdiction for an order that the company be wound up under the Act, which application may be made upon receipt by the Attorney General of Canada of a certificate of the Minister setting forth his opinion that any of the circumstances described in paragraphs (a) to (c) apply to that company.
Marginal note:Costs of winding-up
(2) In any application to the court under subsection (1) the court shall determine whether the costs of the winding-up shall be borne by the company or personally by any or all of the directors of the company who participated or acquiesced in the carrying on of any business or the exercise or the professing of the exercise of any powers described in subsection (1).
R.S., 1970, c. 10(1st Supp.), s. 3.
5.7[Repealed, 2009, c. 23, s. 313]
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Marginal note:Seal of office
6.The Governor in Council may, from time to time, designate the seal of office to be used by the Minister as the seal under which letters patent may be granted under this Act.
R.S., 1952, c. 53, s. 6.
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8.[Repealed, 2009, c. 23, s. 313]
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Marginal note:Establishing conditions precedent to the issue of letters patent
9. (1) Before the letters patent are issued the applicants shall establish to the satisfaction of the Minister
(a) the sufficiency of the application and the truth and
sufficiency of the facts therein set forth, and
(b) that the proposed name is not the same or similar to the
name under which any other company, society, association or firm, in existence, is carrying on business in Canada or is incorporated under the laws of Canada or any province thereof or so nearly resembles the same as to be calculated to deceive and is not otherwise on public grounds objectionable, or that such existing company, society,
association or firm is in the course of being dissolved or changing its name and has signified its consent to the use of the said name.
Marginal note:Evidence may be taken
(2) The Minister or any officer to whom the application may be referred may take any requisite evidence in writing by oath or affirmation or by statutory declaration and the Minister shall keep of record any such evidence so taken.
Marginal note:Averments to be recited
(3) The letters patent shall recite such of the established averments in the application as to the Minister seems expedient.
Marginal note:Name of company
(4) The Minister, after giving reasonable notice to the applicants, or to their authorized representative or agent, may give to the company a corporate name different from that proposed by the applicants in any case in which the proposed name is deemed by the Minister to be objectionable.
Marginal note:Alterations in application for letters patent
(5) The Minister after giving notice to the applicants or to their authorized representative or agent may, with the consent of such
applicants or their authorized representative or agent, make such alterations in the application as may be deemed expedient by the Minister.
R.S., 1952, c. 53, s. 8;
1964-65, c. 52, s. 7.
Marginal note:Notice to be published
10.Notice of the granting of letters patent or supplementary letters patent shall be forthwith given by the Minister by one insertion in the Canada Gazette.
1964-65, c. 52, s. 8.
Corrections
11. (1) When the letters patent or supplementary letters patent contain any misnomer, misdescription, clerical error or other defect, the Minister may direct the letters patent or supplementary letters patent to be corrected.
Marginal note:Notice of correction
(2) Notice of the correction of the letters patent or supplementary letters patent shall be forthwith given by the Minister in the Canada Gazette if the correction made causes them to depart materially from the text of the original notice given pursuant to section 10.
1964-65, c. 52, s. 8.
Marginal note:Date of existence
12. A company comes into existence on the date of the letters patent incorporating it.
1964-65, c. 52, s. 9.
13.[Repealed, 2009, c. 23, s. 313]
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G ENERAL P OWERS AND D UTIES OF C OMPANIES
Marginal note:Powers given subject to this Act
15. All powers given to a company by letters patent or supplementary letters patent shall be exercised subject to the provisions and restrictions contained in this Part.
R.S., 1952, c. 53, s. 13.
Marginal note:Incidental and ancillary powers
16. (1) A company may, as ancillary and incidental to the objects set out in its letters patent or supplementary letters patent, exercise any or all of the following powers, namely the power:
(a) to carry on any other business that may seem to the company
capable of being conveniently carried on in connection with its business or calculated directly or indirectly to enhance the value of or render profitable any of the company’s property or rights;
(a.1) to purchase or otherwise acquire and undertake all or
any of the assets, business, property, privileges, contracts, rights, obligations and liabilities of any other company or any society, firm or person carrying on any business that the company is authorized to carry on, or possessed of property suitable for the purposes of the company;
(b) to apply for, purchase or otherwise acquire any patents,
patent rights, copyrights, trade marks, formulae, licences,
concessions and the like, conferring any exclusive or non-exclusive or limited right to use, or any secret or other information as to any invention that may seem capable of being used for any of the purposes of the company, or the acquisition of which may seem calculated directly or indirectly to benefit the company, and to use, exercise, develop or grant licenses in respect of, or otherwise turn to account, the property, rights or information so acquired;
(b.1) to amalgamate or enter into partnership or into any
arrangement for sharing of profits, union of interests, cooperation, joint adventure, reciprocal concession or otherwise, with any other company or any society, firm or person, carrying on or engaged in or about to carry on or engage in any business or transaction that the company is authorized to carry on or engage in, or any business or transaction capable of being conducted so as directly or indirectly to benefit the company; and to lend money to, guarantee the contracts of, or otherwise assist any such company, society, firm or person, and to take or otherwise acquire shares and securities of any such company, and to sell, hold or otherwise deal with the same;
(c) to take, or otherwise acquire and hold, shares, debentures or other securities of any other company having objects altogether or in part similar to those of the company, or carrying on any business capable of being conducted so as, directly or indirectly, to benefit the company, and to sell or otherwise deal with the same;
(d) to enter into any arrangements with any government or authority, municipal, local or otherwise, that may seem conducive to the company’s objects, or any of them, and to obtain from any such government or authority any rights, privileges and concessions that the company may think it desirable to obtain, and to carry out, exercise and comply with any such arrangements, rights, privileges and concessions;
(e) to establish and support or aid in the establishment and support of associations, institutions, funds, trusts and conveniences calculated to benefit employees or ex-employees of the company or of its predecessors in business, or the dependants or connections of such persons, and to grant pensions and allowances, and to make payments toward insurance, and to subscribe or guarantee money for charitable or benevolent objects, or for any exhibition or for any public, general or useful object;
(f) to promote any other company or companies for the purpose of acquiring or taking over all or any of the property and liabilities of the company, or for any other purpose that may seem directly or indirectly calculated to benefit the company;
(g) to purchase, take on lease or in exchange, hire, and otherwise acquire and hold, sell or otherwise deal with any real and personal property and any rights or privileges that the company may think necessary or convenient for the purposes of its business and in particular any land, buildings, easements, machinery, plant and stock-in-trade;
(h) to construct, improve, maintain, work, manage, carry out or control any roads, ways, branches or sidings, bridges, reservoirs, watercourses, wharfs, manufactories, warehouses, electric works, shops, stores and other works and conveniences that may seem calculated directly or indirectly to advance the company’s interests, and t o contribute to, subsidize or otherwise assist or take part in the construction, improvement, maintenance, working, management, carrying out or control thereof;
(i) to lend money to any other company, or any society, firm or person, having dealings with the company or with whom the company
proposes to have dealings or to any other company any of whose shares are held by the company;
(j) to draw, make, accept, endorse, discount, execute and issue promissory notes, bills of exchange, bills of lading, warrants and other negotiable or transferable instruments;
(k) to sell or dispose of the undertaking of the company or any part thereof for such consideration as the company may think fit, and in particular for shares, debentures or securities of any other company that has objects altogether or in part similar to those of the company;
(l) to apply for, secure, acquire by grant, legislative enactment, assignment, transfer, purchase or otherwise, and to exercise, carry out and enjoy any charter, licence, power, authority, franchise, concession, right or privilege, that any government or authority or any corporation or other public body may be empowered to grant, and to pay for, aid in and contribute toward carrying the same into effect, and to appropriate any of the c ompany’s shares, debentures, or other securities and assets to defray the necessary costs, charges and expenses thereof;
(m) to procure the company to be registered and recognized in any foreign country or place, and to designate persons therein according to the laws of such foreign country or place to represent the company and to accept service for and on behalf of the company of any process or suit;
(n) to remunerate any other company, or any society, firm or person for services rendered, or to be rendered, in placing or assisting to place or guaranteeing the placing of any of the shares in the company’s capital or any debentures or other securities of the company, or in or about the organization, formation or promotion of the company or the conduct of its business;
(o) to raise and assist in raising money for, and to aid by way of bonus, loan, promise, endorsement, guarantee or otherwise, any other company with which the company may have business relations or any of whose shares, debentures or other obligations are held by the company and to guarantee the performance or fulfilment of any contracts or obligations of any such company or of any person with whom the company may have business relations, and in particular to guarantee the payment of the principal of and interest on debentures or other securities, mortgages and liabilities of any such company;
(p) to adopt such means of making known the products of the company as may seem expedient, and in particular by advertising in the press, by circulars, by purchase and exhibition of works of art or interest, by publication of books and periodicals and by granting prizes, rewards and donations;
(q) to sell, improve, manage, develop, exchange, lease, dispose of, turn to account or otherwise deal with all or any part of the property and rights of the company;
(r) to issue and allot fully or partly paid up shares of the capital stock of the company in payment or part payment of any real or personal property purchased or otherwise acquired by the company or any services rendered to the company;
(s) to distribute among the shareholders of the company in kind, specie or otherwise, any property or assets of the company including any proceeds of the sale or disposal of any property of the company and in particular any shares, debentures, or other securities of or in any other company belonging to the company, or of which it may have power to dispose, if either such distribution is made for the purpose of enabling the company to surrender its charter under the provisions of this Act, or such distribution, apart from the provisions of this paragraph, would have been lawful if made in cash;
(t) to pay out of the funds of the company all or any of the expenses of or incidental to the formation and organization thereof, or which the company may consider to be preliminary;
(u) to establish agencies and branches;
(v) to invest and deal with the moneys of the company not immediately required in such manner as may from time to time be determined;
(w) to apply for, promote and obtain any statute, ordinance, order, regulation or other authorization or enactment that may seem calculated directly or indirectly to benefit the company; and to oppose any proceedings or application that may seem calculated directly or indirectly to prejudice the company’s interests;
(x) to take or hold mortgages, hypothecs, liens and charges to secure payment of the purchase price, or for any unpaid balance of the purchase price of any part of the company’s property of whatsoever kind sold by the company, or any money due to the company from purchasers and others and to sell or otherwise dispose of said mortgages, hypothecs, liens and charges;
(y) to carry out all or any of the objects of the company and do all or any of the things set out in this subsection as principal, agent, contractor, or otherwise, and either alone or in conjunction with others; and
(z) to do all such other things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the objects and the exercise of the powers of the company.
Marginal note:Property and rights
(2) The company shall from the date of its letters patent become and be vested with all property and rights, real and personal, theretofore held for it under any trust created with a view to its incorporation.
Marginal note:Other powers
(3) Nothing in this section prevents the inclusion in the letters patent or supplementary letters patent of a company of other powers in addition to or in modification of the powers mentioned in subsection (1).
Marginal note:Withholding or limiting powers
(4) Any of the powers set out in subsection (1) may be withheld or limited by the letters patent or supplementary letters patent of the company.
R.S., 1952, c. 53, s. 14;
1964-65, c. 52, s. 12.
17.[Repealed, 2009, c. 23, s. 313]
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18.[Repealed, 2009, c. 23, s. 313]
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C HANGE OF P ROVISIONS OF L ETTERS P ATENT
Marginal note:Application to extend or reduce powers
20. (1) Subject to any special rights attaching to shares of any class or classes as set forth in the letters patent or supplementary letters patent, a company may from time to time, when authorized by by-law sanctioned by two-thirds of the votes cast at a special general meeting
of shareholders called for the purpose, apply for supplementary letters patent, as provided in such by-law,
(a) extending the objects of the company to such further or
other objects for which a company may be incorporated under this Part, or
(b) reducing, limiting, amending or varying the objects or
the powers of the company or any of the provisions of the letters patent or supplementary letters patent issued to the company;
but no such extension, reduction, limitation, amendment or variation may have the effect of altering or permitting the alteration of the authorized capital of the company in any manner other than pursuant to the issue of supplementary letters patent under sections 51 to 60 or section 134, as the circumstances of the case may require.
Marginal note:Converting company
(2) A company may, when authorized by by-law sanctioned by
three-fourths of the votes cast at a special general meeting of shareholders called for the purpose, apply for supplementary letters patent converting the company from a private company into a public company, or from a public company into a private company, as the case may be.
Marginal note:Limitation
(3) An application under subsection (1) or (2) may be made only within six months after the by-law therein mentioned has been sanctioned by the shareholders.
Marginal note:Evidence of by-law
(4) Before such supplementary letters patent are issued, the company shall establish to the satisfaction of the Minister the due passage and sanction of the by-law authorizing the application, and for that purpose the Minister may take any requisite evidence in writing, by oath or affirmation, or by statutory declaration and shall keep a record of any such evidence so taken.
Marginal note:Supplementary letters patent
(5) Upon the due sanctioning of a by-law pursuant to subsection (1) or (2), as the case may be, being so established, the Minister may grant supplementary letters patent
(a) extending the objects of the company;