On September 18, 2009, a number of amendments to Canada's
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and Companies
Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) came into force. The
amendments were passed in 2005 and 2007 but, aside from a few
provisions that became effective in July 2008, the amendments sat
dormant, awaiting proclamation into force. Pursuant to Order in
Council P.C. 2009-1207, almost all of these amendments have now
been brought into force. Some of these provisions will be of
interest to participants in the securitization market.
The BIA and CCAA now expressly permit a reorganizing debtor to
disclaim or resiliate certain types of agreements (section 65.11 of
the BIA and section 32 of the CCAA). The procedure is set forth in
the statutes and permits other parties to contracts upon receiving
notice of a proposed disclaimer (which must first be approved by
the trustee or monitor) to apply to the court within 15 days of
receiving notice for an order that the disclaimer does
