A corporation is a legal entity with many of the rights and obligations of a natural person – it can borrow money, own property, declare bankruptcy and initiate or defend a lawsuit. A corporation is separate and distinct from its owners (the shareholders) and the individuals who manage the business (the directors and officers).
A corporation is created by filing “articles of incorporation” with the federal government (to register a federal corporation) or the provincial government (to register a provincial corporation). The articles of incorporation contain information about the corporation such as the:
- location of the registered office
- number of directors
- share structure of the corporation
- rights, privileges and conditions attached to each class of shares
- restrictions, if any, on the transfer of shares