The Government of Canada proclaimed the Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act, S.C. 2014, c. 39, s. 376 (the “Act”) into force on June 1 2015. Section 6 sets out the purpose of this Act as follows: 6. The purpose of this Act is to implement Canada’s international commitments to participate in the fight against corruption…
An avid racetrack fan decides that she would like to own her own race horses, but the problem is she doesn’t have enough money to pay for their training and boarding as well as all of the entrance fees. As she contemplates how to fulfill her dream of owning horses, it strikes her that if…
On May 1, 2015, amendments to the Business Corporation Act (Yukon) (the Act) came into force. The amendments modernize rules but some amendments are unique to the Yukon and are intended to attract companies to incorporate in the Yukon. The particularly noteworthy amendments in the Act include: a corporation can now serve as a director…
On May 14, 2015, the securities regulatory authorities of BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (the participating jurisdictions) each adopted, by way of local blanket order, a substantially harmonized start-up crowd funding exemption that will permit start-up and early stage companies to raise capital in these jurisdictions. BC’s start-up crowd funding exemption…
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are implementing amendments to the continuous disclosure and governance obligations of issuers listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the venture issuers) in the following three national instruments: National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations (NI 51-102); National Instrument 52-110 Audit Committees (NI 52-110); and National Instrument 41-101 General Prospectus Requirements (NI…
The launch of the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory System (CCMR) has been delayed one year and is now expected to begin operation in the fall of 2016. The federal government announced its commitment to implementing the CCMR in the 2015 federal budget. The below excerpt is from pages 254 and 255 of the budget. It…
Background On March 24, 2015, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) released its decision against a former mergers and acquisition lawyer, Mitchell Finkelstein (Finkelstein) and four investment advisors (together, the respondents) in a high profile tipping¹ and insider trading² decision. OSC staff alleged that Finkelstein tipped his long-time friend, Paul Azeff (Azeff), an investment advisor, about…
The Financial Post recently published an article called, “Caught in a web of spinoffs: Inside Canada’s expanding universe of ‘shell’ companies” by Barbara Shecter and Peter Koven. Many of you have probably already seen it, but if you haven’t, I highly recommend that you take a few minutes to read it. The article discusses how…
Upcoming Amendments to National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus and Registration Exemptions (NI 45-106) Amendments to the individual accredited investor (AI) exemption and the minimum amount investment exemption, more commonly known as the $150,000 exemption will come into force on May 5, 20151in NI 45-106, which incidentally, will be renamed to National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions. In…
On February 11, 2015, the OSC’s new capital raising prospectus exemption for reporting issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV), the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) or the Aequitas NEO Exchange1 (Aequitas and collectively, the Exchanges) is scheduled to come into effect in OSC Rule 45-501 Ontario Prospectus and Registration Exemption….