The Government of Canada's omnibus budget implementation
bill (Bill C-38) received Royal Assent on June 29, 2012.
Included in the bill were amendments to the Telecommunications
Act to eliminate foreign ownership restrictions for certain
telecommunications carriers .
The foreign ownership restrictions required telecommunications
carriers in Canada that own and operate facilities other than
satellites, earth stations and submarine cables to be
Canadian-owned and controlled. To be "Canadian-owned and
controlled", the voting shares of a carrier must be 80 per
cent beneficially owned by Canadians, Canadians must comprise at
least 80 per cent of the board of directors of the carrier, and the
carrier must not be controlled in fact by non-Canadians. A
corporate shareholder of a carrier will be Canadian if Canadians
beneficially own at least 66 2/3 per cent of the voting shares and
the corporation is not controlled in fact by non-Canadians.
