Business Law Blog

The Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”) recently announced amendments to National Instrument 45-106 – Prospectus Exemptions introducing a new prospectus exemption that is expected to take effect on November 21, 2022 (the “Listed Issuer Exemption”).

Listed issuers that qualify for the Listed Issuer Exemption will be able to distribute freely ...

In June 2022, Canada published a report concerning its tax gap.^[1] A “tax gap” is the difference between (a) the amount of money a tax authority could collect, in theory, if everyone complied with the law; and (b) the amount in fact collected. Canada’s tax gap has remained stable for the period 2014 to 2018, at 9% of tax revenue.^[2] This translates to between $20 billion ...

On February 4, the federal government put forward draft legislation setting out the new Excessive Interest and Financing Expenses Limitation (EIFEL) regime. EIFEL is intended to prevent erosion of the Canadian tax base by limiting net interest and financing deductions of certain Canadian taxpayers generally to 30% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and ...

Part 1: British Columbia’s Evolving Regulation of Carbon Capture and Storage

The release of the federal government’s 2022 budget highlights the tension between commitments to a net-zero economy and the enduring importance of fossil fuels in Canada. The government’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, published pursuant to the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions ...

Part 2: CCUS Investment Tax Credit

As noted in Part 1 of this blog post, available here, the release of the federal government’s 2022 budget (the “2022 Budget”) highlights the tension between commitments to a net-zero economy and the enduring importance of fossil fuels in Canada. The government’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan, published pursuant to the Canadian ...

In a post one year ago aimed at situating the prevailing corporate governance trends for directors of Canadian companies, this blog noted that “there is a torrent of profoundly important issues facing society in our time, many of them amounting to real crises… [A]s pressures mount on corporations to react to external crises, directors of Canadian corporations must ...

Amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act (the “CBCA”) relating to the election of directors and shareholder proposals will come into force on August 31, 2022 (the “Amendments”).

Election of Directors

The Amendments require distributing corporations (which, generally speaking, are public companies governed by the CBCA) to comply with the following ...

Beginning in 2020, in response to the enduring challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, many reporting issuers pivoted from in-person shareholder meetings to virtual shareholder meetings. Virtual meetings are either held entirely virtually or rely on a “hybrid” model allowing for both virtual and in-person participation.

In light of recent corporate law amendments ...

For over a decade, Canadian securities regulators have been concerned about the significant variance in disclosure practices surrounding non-GAAP financial measures and the potential to mislead investors. To address these concerns, on August 25, 2021, National Instrument 52-112 – Non-GAAP and Other Financial Measures Disclosure (“NI 52-112”) and its ...

Every year, reporting issuers are faced with the task of tailoring the disclosure for their annual general meeting to an ever-evolving list of changes in corporate and securities laws, updates to stock exchange rules, new guidance from proxy advisors and regulators and developing corporate governance trends.

This checklist and overview of certain matters relevant to ...