On December 4, 2009, the Business Corporations Act, chapter 52 of the 2009 Québec Statutes, was sanctioned. Once the Act comes into force, it will result in an in-depth reform of the Companies Act. The most recent reforms of the Companies Act date back to 1979, when Part IA was adopted, and 1980, when Part IA was substantially amended. The legislature’s objective is to replace both Part I and Part IA of the existing Act with an ultramodern and user-friendly new Act that will rival the Canada Business Corporations Act and the corporate statutes of all the other provinces and territories. For more information, please read our Bulletin:

	Blakes Bulletin on Business Law (December 2009) - Business Corporations Act (Quebec) – Enactment of the Act
	Blakes Bulletin on Tax (October 2009) - Quebec Company Law Reform – Changes of Interest to Tax Planners
	Text - Business Corporations Act

Additional information from the Ministry of Finance

	Press release - December 1, 2009
Reference Documents (in French) - Explications et commentaires aux parlementaires sur le projet de Loi sur les sociétés par actions
	Volume 1 (in French)
	Volume 2 (in French)

Paul Martel is a "consultant-expert"  retained  by the Quebec Minister of Finances for the design and writing of the new Business Corporations Act. Paul also sat on the Advisory Committee on the reform of the Companies Act. Prolific author and speaker, and Special Adviser in the Montréal office of Blakes, Paul Martel specializes in corporate and commercial law. For more information, please consult his profile.