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Chorus Aviation Inc. has announced that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued on May 13 a final order approving the previously announced plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act effecting amendments to Chorus Aviation’s articles of incorporation and by-laws to align the permitted level of non-Canadian ownership and control of its voting shares within its articles with those prescribed by the new definition of “Canadian” under the Canada Transportation Act (CTA), as amended in June 2018.
Prior to the CTA amendments, no more than 25 per cent of the voting interests of a Canadian air carrier could be owned or controlled by non-Canadians. The Government of Canada’s stated purpose in implementing the CTA amendments is to attract more foreign investment and encourage growth in the aviation sector by increasing, from 25 per cent to 49 per cent, the permitted level of foreign ownership of Canadian air carriers. At the same time, the CTA amendments introduced two new limitations on voting ownership and control, by capping the voting rights of single non-Canadians and of the aggregate of non-Canadian air carriers at 25 per cent.
Chorus expects that its amended articles will be filed and become effective on or about May 13, 2019. Further details regarding the amendments are set out in the management proxy circular of Chorus dated March 22, 2019, and in Chorus’s Feb. 19, 2019, news release.
