Bill C-12 · 39th Parliament · Stephen Harper
An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, the Wage Earner Protection Program Act and chapter 47 of the Statutes of Canada, 2005
Government bill. Became law.
- IntroducedOct. 29, 2007
- Debated in principleOct. 29, 2007
- Studied by a committeeDone
- Passed its first chamberOct. 29, 2007
- Passed the second chamberDec. 12, 2007
- Became lawDec. 14, 2007
Leading supporters
Ranked by the part each played: who is responsible for the bill, who carried it, and who spoke for it most.
- Stephen HarperPrime Minister
- Michael A. MeighenSenate · Sponsor in the Senate
- Gerald J. ComeauSenate · Senatormoved third reading of the bill
- W. David AngusSenate · Senatorpresented committee report recommending passage without amendment
- Jean-Pierre BlackburnHe introduces the bill and confirms it matches the prior version.
Who carries this bill
Arrows run from the person responsible to those who answer to them on this bill. The critic leads the Senate’s scrutiny and answers to no one on it.
Where members stand
How it changed on the way
The texts have not been compared yet.
How precisely it is written
mixedChallenging the law: HardDisputing a charge: Moderate
The bill supplies many exact definitions and objective lists but repeatedly hands courts open-ended power to decide amounts, necessity and appropriateness. This mix of black-letter rules and subjective judicial tests produces a middle level of precision.
Open to argument
“in an amount that the court considers appropriate”
Leaves the size of security or charge entirely to judicial discretion without numerical or formulaic limits.“if in the court’s opinion”
Makes application of the exception turn on the court’s subjective view rather than an objective test.“secured creditors who are likely to be affected”
Uses a predictive and evaluative standard instead of a fixed list or clear criterion.“it is reasonable to conclude that they would have entered into a substantially similar transaction”
Requires an after-the-fact reasonableness judgment based on multiple open-ended factors.
Clear-cut
“"current assets" means cash, cash equivalents — including negotiable instruments and demand deposits — inventory or accounts receivable, or the proceeds from any dealing with those assets”
Enumerates specific categories that leave little room for argument.“the earliest of the day on which any one of the following is made, filed or commenced”
Fixes a clear chronological rule based on listed events.
Discretion. Extensive discretion is given to courts to set amounts, decide appropriateness, and weigh factors; almost no power is left to ministers or regulations in the supplied text.
Challenging the law itself. The provisions are procedural and commercial; no obvious Charter rights such as s. 7 or s. 8 are directly engaged by the text.
Disputing a charge under it. A party can readily argue that a court’s chosen amount or opinion was unreasonable, but the many discretionary phrases make outcomes fact-specific and hard to predict in advance.
Read by a language model from the royal assent text; every quoted phrase appears in the bill. A reading of the drafting, not legal advice.
Did it work?
partly effective
The legislation primarily served as technical corrections to enable Chapter 47 of the Statutes of Canada, 2005 (including the Wage Earner Protection Program Act) to come into force, with a mandated five-year parliamentary review clause; departmental evaluations of the resulting WEPP confirm it meets its core mandate with high approval rates and beneficiary satisfaction, though administrative burdens persist. No comprehensive statutory or Auditor General review of the full 2007 amendments was identified, limiting assessment of broader BIA/CCAA changes.
- Evaluation of the Wage Earner Protection ProgramevaluationThe program is well administered, meets its mandate to compensate workers for unpaid wages in insolvency cases, with approval rates of 89-97% and payments covering 60-76% of eligible wages on average.
- Evaluation Summary: Wage Earner Protection ProgramevaluationChanges since inception improved beneficiary outcomes; Service Canada met processing targets in most years, though trustees face administrative burdens.
- Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Commerce and the Economy transcripts (39th Parliament, 2nd Session)reviewBill C-12 includes a five-year review clause requiring a government report to Parliament on implementation and developments in the legislation.
Who lobbied on it
No lobbying registration naming this bill is loaded.
Stages and dates from LEGISinfo.