Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. B-3)

Marginal note:Non-application of certain provisions

• 69.41 (1) Sections 69 to 69.31 do not apply in respect of a claim referred to in subsection 121(4).

• Marginal note:No remedy, etc.

  (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no creditor with a claim referred to in subsection 121(4) has any remedy, or shall commence or continue any action, execution or other proceeding, against

  • (a) property of a bankrupt that has vested in the trustee; or

  • (b) amounts that are payable to the estate of the bankrupt under section 68.

Marginal note:No stay, etc., in certain cases

69.42 Despite anything in this Act, no provision of this Act shall have the effect of staying or restraining, and no order may be made under this Act staying or restraining,

• (a) the exercise by the Minister of Finance or the Superintendent of Financial Institutions of any power, duty or function assigned to them by the Bank Act, the Cooperative Credit Associations Act, the Insurance Companies Act or the Trust and Loan Companies Act;

• (b) the exercise by the Governor in Council, the Minister of Finance or the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation of any power, duty or function assigned to them by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act; or

• (c) the exercise by the Attorney General of Canada of any power, assigned to him or her by the Winding-up and Restructuring Act.

Marginal note:Provincial legislation

69.5 Except for paragraphs 69(1)(c) and (d) and 69.1(1)(c) and (d), sections 69 to 69.3 do not affect the operation of any provision of provincial legislation that has a similar purpose to subsection 224(1.2) of the Income Tax Act, or that refers to that subsection, to the extent that it provides for the collection of a sum, and of any related interest, penalties or other amounts, where the sum

• (a) has been withheld or deducted by a person from a payment to another person and is in respect of a tax similar in nature to the income tax imposed on individuals under the Income Tax Act, or

• (b) is of the same nature as a contribution under the Canada Pension Plan if the province is a province providing a comprehensive pension plan as defined in subsection 3(1) of the Canada Pension Plan and the provincial legislation establishes a provincial pension plan as defined in that subsection,

and for the purpose of this section, the provision is, despite any Act of Canada or of a province or any other law, deemed to have the same effect and scope against any creditor, however secured, as subsection 224(1.2) of the Income Tax Act in respect of a sum referred to in paragraph (a), or as subsection 23(2) of the Canada Pension Plan in respect of a sum referred to in paragraph (b), and in respect of any related interest, penalties or other amounts.

Meaning of regulatory body

• 69.6 (1) In this section, regulatory body means a person or body that has powers, duties or functions relating to the enforcement or administration of an Act of Parliament or of the legislature of a province and includes a person or body that is prescribed to be a regulatory body for the purpose of this Act.

• Marginal note:Regulatory bodies — sections 69 and 69.1

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), no stay provided by section 69 or 69.1 affects a regulatory body’s investigation in respect of an insolvent person or an action, suit or proceeding that is taken in respect of the insolvent person by or before the regulatory body, other than the enforcement of a payment ordered by the regulatory body or the court.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) On application by the insolvent person and on notice to the regulatory body and to the persons who are likely to be affected by the order, the court may order that subsection (2) not apply in respect of one or more of the actions, suits or proceedings taken by or before the regulatory body if in the court’s opinion

  • (a) a viable proposal could not be made in respect of the insolvent person if that subsection were to apply; and

  • (b) it is not contrary to the public interest that the regulatory body be affected by the stay provided by section 69 or 69.1.

• Marginal note:Declaration — enforcement of a payment

  (4) If there is a dispute as to whether a regulatory body is seeking to enforce its rights as a creditor, the court may, on application by the insolvent person and on notice to the regulatory body, make an order declaring both that the regulatory body is seeking to enforce its rights as a creditor and that the enforcement of those rights is stayed.

General Provisions

Marginal note:Precedence of bankruptcy orders and assignments

• 70 (1) Every bankruptcy order and every assignment made under this Act takes precedence over all judicial or other attachments, garnishments, certificates having the effect of judgments, judgments, certificates of judgment, legal hypothecs of judgment creditors, executions or other process against the property of a bankrupt, except those that have been completely executed by payment to the creditor or the creditor’s representative, and except the rights of a secured creditor.

• Marginal note:Costs

  (2) Despite subsection (1), one bill of costs of a barrister or solicitor or, in the Province of Quebec, an advocate, including the executing officer’s fees and land registration fees, shall be payable to the creditor who has first attached by way of garnishment or filed with the executing officer an attachment, execution or other process against the property of the bankrupt.

Marginal note:Vesting of property in trustee

71 On a bankruptcy order being made or an assignment being filed with an official receiver, a bankrupt ceases to have any capacity to dispose of or otherwise deal with their property, which shall, subject to this Act and to the rights of secured creditors, immediately pass to and vest in the trustee named in the bankruptcy order or assignment, and in any case of change of trustee the property shall pass from trustee to trustee without any assignment or transfer.

Marginal note:Application of other substantive law

• 72 (1) The provisions of this Act shall not be deemed to abrogate or supersede the substantive provisions of any other law or statute relating to property and civil rights that are not in conflict with this Act, and the trustee is entitled to avail himself of all rights and remedies provided by that law or statute as supplementary to and in addition to the rights and remedies provided by this Act.

• Marginal note:Operation of provincial law re documents executed under Act

  (2) No bankruptcy order, assignment or other document made or executed under the authority of this Act shall, except as otherwise provided in this Act, be within the operation of any legislative enactment in force at any time in any province relating to deeds, mortgages, hypothecs, judgments, bills of sale, chattel mortgages, property or registration of documents affecting title to or liens or charges on real or personal property or immovables or movables.

Marginal note:Intellectual property — sale or disposition

• 72.1 (1) If the bankrupt is a party to an agreement that grants to another party a right to use intellectual property that is included in a sale or disposition by the trustee, that sale or disposition does not affect that other party’s right to use the intellectual property — including the other party’s right to enforce an exclusive use — during the term of the agreement, including any period for which the other party extends the agreement as of right, as long as the other party continues to perform its obligations under the agreement in relation to the use of the intellectual property.

• Marginal note:Intellectual property — disclaimer or resiliation

  (2) If the bankrupt is a party to an agreement that grants to another party a right to use intellectual property, the disclaimer or resiliation of that agreement by the trustee does not affect that other party’s right to use the intellectual property — including the other party’s right to enforce an exclusive use — during the term of the agreement, including any period for which the other party extends the agreement as of right, as long as the other party continues to perform its obligations under the agreement in relation to the use of the intellectual property.

Marginal note:Purchaser in good faith at sale protected

• 73 (1) An execution levied by seizure and sale of the property of a bankrupt is not invalid by reason only of its being an act of bankruptcy, and a person who purchases the property in good faith under a sale by the executing officer acquires a good title to the property against the trustee.

• Marginal note:Executing officer to deliver property of bankrupt to trustee

  (2) If an assignment or a bankruptcy order has been made, the executing officer or other officer of any court or any other person having seized property of the bankrupt under execution or attachment or any other process shall, on receiving a copy of the assignment or the bankruptcy order certified by the trustee as a true copy, immediately deliver to the trustee all the property of the bankrupt in their hands.

• Marginal note:In case of executing officer’s sale

  (3) If the executing officer has sold the property or any part of the property of a bankrupt, the executing officer shall deliver to the trustee the money so realized less the executing officer’s fees and the costs referred to in subsection 70(2).

• Marginal note:Effect of bankruptcy on seizure of property for rent or taxes

  (4) Any property of a bankrupt under seizure for rent or taxes shall on production of a copy of the bankruptcy order or the assignment certified by the trustee as a true copy be delivered without delay to the trustee, but the payment of the costs of distress or, in the Province of Quebec, the costs of seizure, is secured by a security on the property ranking ahead of any other security on it, and, if the property or any part of it has been sold, the money realized from the sale less the costs of distress, or seizure, and sale shall be paid to the trustee.

Marginal note:Registration of bankruptcy order or assignment

• 74 (1) Every bankruptcy order, or a true copy certified by the registrar or other officer of the court that made it, and every assignment, or a true copy certified by the official receiver, may be registered by or on behalf of the trustee in respect of the whole or any part of any real property in which the bankrupt has any interest or estate, or in respect of the whole or any part of any immovable in which the bankrupt has any right, in the registry office in which, according to the law of the province in which the real property or immovable is situated, deeds or transfers of title and other documents relating to real property, an immovable or any interest or estate in real property or any right in an immovable may be registered.

• Marginal note:Effect of registration

  (2) If a bankrupt is the registered owner of any real property or immovable or the registered holder of any charge, the trustee, on registration of the documents referred to in subsection (1), is entitled to be registered as owner of the real property or immovable or holder of the charge free of all encumbrances or charges mentioned in subsection 70(1).

• Marginal note:Caveat may be filed

  (3) If a bankrupt owns any real property or immovable or holds any charge registered in a land registry office or has or is believed to have any interest, estate or right in any of them, and for any reason a copy of the bankruptcy order or assignment has not been registered as provided in subsection (1), a caveat or caution may be filed with the official in charge of the land registry by the trustee, and any registration made after the filing of the caveat or caution in respect of the real property, immovable or charge is subject to the caveat or caution unless it has been removed or cancelled under the provisions of the Act under which the real property, immovable, charge, interest, estate or right is registered.

• Marginal note:Duty of official

  (4) Every official to whom a trustee tenders or causes to be tendered for registration any bankruptcy order, assignment or other document shall register it according to the ordinary procedure for registering within the official’s office documents relating to real property or immovables.

Marginal note:Law of province to apply in favour of purchaser for value

75 Despite anything in this Act, a deed, transfer, agreement for sale, mortgage, charge or hypothec made to or in favour of a bona fide purchaser, mortgagee or hypothecary creditor for adequate valuable consideration and covering any real property or immovable affected by a bankruptcy order or an assignment under this Act is valid and effectual according to the tenor of the deed, transfer, agreement for sale, mortgage, charge or hypothec and according to the laws of the province in which the property is situated as fully and effectually and to all intents and purposes as if no bankruptcy order or assignment had been made under this Act, unless the bankruptcy order or assignment, or notice of the order or assignment, or caution, has been registered against the property in the proper office prior to the registration of the deed, transfer, agreement for sale, mortgage, charge or hypothec in accordance with the laws of the province in which the property is situated.

Marginal note:Property not to be removed from province

76 No property of a bankrupt shall be removed out of the province in which the property was at the date when the bankruptcy order or assignment was made, without the permission of the inspectors or an order of the court in which proceedings under this Act are being carried on or within the jurisdiction in which the property is situated.

Marginal note:Contributory shareholders

• 77 (1) Every shareholder or member of a bankrupt corporation is liable to contribute the amount unpaid on his shares of the capital or on his liability to the corporation, its members or creditors, as the case may be, under the Act, charter or instrument of incorporation of the company or otherwise.

• Marginal note:Liability of contributory an asset

  (2) The amount that the contributory is liable to contribute under subsection (1) shall be deemed an asset of the corporation and a debt payable to the trustee forthwith on the bankruptcy of the corporation.

Marginal note:Bank must notify trustee

78 Where a banker has ascertained that a person having an account with the banker is an undischarged bankrupt, it is his duty forthwith to inform the trustee of the existence of the account, and thereafter the banker shall not make any payments out of the account, except under an order of the court or in accordance with instructions from the trustee, unless on the expiration of one month from the date of giving the information no instructions have been received from the trustee.

Marginal note:Inspection of property held in pledge

79 Where property of a bankrupt is held as a pledge, hypothec, pawn or other security, the trustee may give notice in writing of the trustee’s intention to inspect the property, and the person so notified is not thereafter entitled to realize the security until the person has given the trustee a reasonable opportunity of inspecting the property and of exercising the trustee’s right of redemption.