The End Snow Washing Coalition - TI Canada, Publish What You Pay Canada, and Canadians for Tax Fairness - provided a written submission for New Brunswick’s public consultation on Bill 95, An Act to Amend the Business Corporations Act.
In their consultation, the Coalition supported New Brunswick’s inclusion of federal “individual of significant control” (ISC) requirements in Bill 95 as well as the bill’s implementation timeline.
“We want to applaud the province in noting that it has included all ISC legislative amendments in Bill [...] 95.” Additionally, “[w]e applaud the timeline for Bill [...] 95, as it is noted in the consultation document that this bill shall come into force in the summer of 2022.”
The Coalition called on New Brunswick to take part in Ottawa’s pan-Canadian beneficial ownership registry. By doing so, New Brunswick stands to gain four advantages:
Greater Capacity without Additional Cost
By taking part in a pan-Canadian registry, the province would not have to modify its existing registry, allowing it to access verified beneficial ownership data without expending additional resources.
Unimpeded Investigative Access
A pan-Canadian registry will allow provinces access to back-end data to conduct investigations, meaning that New Brunswick would not lose any of its investigative capabilities.
Identifying Sanctioned Individuals
By taking part in a pan-Canadian beneficial ownership registry, New Brunswick can
improve its ability to track provincial companies owned or controlled by sanctioned individuals.
Compliance
By signing onto the registry, the province offsets any challenges to compliance with federal beneficial ownership regulations.
You can read the Coalition’s full response here.
For media inquiries, please contact:
James Cohen
Executive Director
Transparency International Canada
Phone: 416-488-3939
Email: ti-can@transparencycanada.ca
Sasha Caldera
Campaign Manager, Beneficial Ownership Transparency
Publish What You Pay Canada
Phone: 647-861-6425
Email: scaldera@pwyp.ca