statutory review of the Canada Business Corporations Act

INTRODUCTION
On April 22, 2009, a motion in the House of Commons gave the Standing
Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (hereinafter “the Committee”) the
responsibility for a statutory review of the Canada Business Corporations Act (hereinafter
“the CBCA”).
The statutory review is mandated under section 136 of the Statutes of Canada,
2001, Chapter 14, a stand-alone section of a bill which passed in 2001. Bill S-11 of the 37 th
Parliament, 1 st Session, received Royal Assent on June 14, 2001, and subsequently came
into force on November 24, 2001. Section 136 reads as follows:
Review of Canada Business Corporations Act
136. A committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses of
Parliament that is designated or established for the purpose shall, within five years after
the coming into force of this section, and within every ten years thereafter, undertake a
review of the provisions and operations of the Canada Business Corporations Act,
and shall, within a reasonable period thereafter, cause to be laid before each House of
Parliament a report thereon.
According to this section, a five-year review of the CBCA and its operation was due
to take place in 2006, but it was delayed at the time, and reached the Committee in 2009.
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