On December 16, 2020, the Department of Finance released draft
legislation aimed at providing relief to resource companies that
had issued (or will issue prior to the end of 2020)
"flow-through shares" (FTS) by extending the statutory
time period by which such companies may incur qualifying
expenditures. This legislation, which is consistent with the
government's original announcement of such measures in July
2020, has been eagerly anticipated by an industry dependent on
flow-through share financing but hampered this past year with
shut-down or similar operational issues as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic.
Background
FTS financing is extremely popular in Canada as a way for junior
resource companies to raise capital at a premium to market prices
in order to fund exploration and development activities. A FTS
generally sells for a premium because the initial subscriber of the
FTS is entitled to claim federal tax deductions up to the amount of
the subscription