Canada Cooperatives Act (S.C. 1998, c. 1)

Marginal note:Purposes of Act

• 3. (1) The purposes of this Act are

  • (a) to set out the law applicable to the business endeavours of persons who have associated themselves in a democratic manner to carry on a common purpose; and

  • (b) to advance the cause of uniformity of cooperative business law in Canada.

• Marginal note:Carrying on business in more than one place

  (2) No cooperative may be incorporated under this Act unless

  • (a) it will carry on its undertaking in two or more provinces; and

  • (b) it will have a fixed place of business in more than one province.

• Marginal note:Application

  (3) This Act applies to cooperatives incorporated under this Act that have not been discontinued.

• Marginal note:Non-application of certain Acts

  (4) No provision of the Canada Business Corporations Act, the Canada Corporations Act, chapter C-32 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act or the Winding-up and Restructuring Act applies to a cooperative.

• Marginal note:Limitation on business that can be carried on

  (5) No cooperative may carry on the business of

  • (a) a bank;

  • (b) a company to which the Insurance Companies Act applies;

  • (c) a company to which the Trust and Loan Companies Act applies; or

  • (d) an association to which the Cooperative Credit Associations Act applies.

• Marginal note:Prohibition on granting degrees

  (6) No cooperative may carry on business as a degree-granting educational institution unless expressly authorized to do so by a federal or provincial agent that by law has the power to confer degree-granting authority on an educational institution.

Marginal note:Control

• 4. (1) For the purposes of this Act,

  • (a) a person controls a body corporate if securities of the body corporate to which are attached more than fifty per cent of the votes that may be cast to elect directors of the body corporate are beneficially owned by the person and the votes attached to those securities are sufficient, if exercised, to elect a majority of the directors of the body corporate; and

  • (b) a person controls a cooperative entity if the person has the right to exercise more than fifty per cent of the votes that may be cast at an annual meeting or to appoint or elect a majority of the directors.

• Marginal note:Holding body corporate

  (2) A body corporate is the holding body corporate of another if that other body corporate is its subsidiary.

• Marginal note:Subsidiary

  (3) A body corporate is a subsidiary of another body corporate if

  • (a) it is controlled by

    • (i) that other body corporate,

    • (ii) that other body corporate and one or more bodies corporate each of which is controlled by that other body corporate, or

    • (iii) two or more bodies corporate each of which is controlled by that other body corporate; or

  • (b) it is a subsidiary of a body corporate that is a subsidiary of that other body corporate.

• Marginal note:Exemptions — on application by cooperative

  (4) On the application of a cooperative, the Director may determine that the cooperative is not or was not a distributing cooperative if the Director is satisfied that the determination would not be prejudicial to the public interest.

• Marginal note:Exemptions — classes of cooperatives

  (5) The Director may determine that a class of cooperatives are not or were not distributing cooperatives if the Director is satisfied that the determination would not be prejudicial to the public interest.

• (6) [Repealed, 2001, c. 14, s. 138]