On June 5, 2013, the Ontario government introduced in the legislature Bill 85, the Companies Statute Law Amendment Act, 2013. Bill 85 seeks to amend more than 80 Ontario statutes, including the still unproclaimed Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 ("ONCA").
The proposed amendments are largely technical in nature: changes to defined terms; updates to the mechanics of incorporation, restructurings and filings; and updates to various other statutes and regulations respecting references to the existing Corporations Act. (In many cases, this involves changes to the reference from "Corporations Act" to "Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010".)
In September 2013, the Ontario government advised that it anticipates that Bill 85 will be debated in the legislature in Fall 2013. The government also stated that "[i]f the amendments are passed by the legislature, ONCA is anticipated to come into force no earlier than six months after passage in order to ensure adequate time for not-for-profit corporations to prepare for transition." This means that the earliest ONCA will be proclaimed in force is Spring of 2014.
Two of the more significant changes to ONCA involve how transition works and when rights for non-voting members will take effect. For a discussion on these changes, please see Nick Pasquino's article, Legislative Update: Bill 85 Amends the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 and Moves the Ontario Government One Step Closer to its Proclamation, in our latest issue of the Not-for-Profit Newsletter.
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