Canada Provinces In Talks Over Sharing Company Ownership Data

Canada’s largest provinces are mulling whether to put their vast troves of corporate information into a new federal database designed by the national government for public disclosure of company ownership.

Their actions will be closely watched, now that the federal government has taken its first steps toward creating the national database—known as a beneficial ownership registry—in legislation passed by Parliament on June 23.

The legislation is a “huge step,” said James Cohen, executive director of Transparency International Canada, but the federal government must now undertake two major steps before the registry can be up and running in 2023 as ...