Another important factor in where to incorporate your business is the residency requirements of the directors. Each province and federally have their own requirements for the percentage of directors who must be Canadian residents. The requirements are as follows: 

Federal  At least 25% must be resident Canadians.

Alberta  At least 50% must be resident Canadians.

British Columbia  No requirements.

Manitoba  At least 51% must be resident Canadians.

Newfoundland  At least 51% must be resident Canadians.

New Brunswick  No requirements.

Nova Scotia  No requirements.

Ontario  At least 51% must be resident Canadians, unless there are only two, then only one needs to be.

Saskatchewan  At least 51% must be resident Canadians and at least one director must be a regular                  resident of Saskatchewan. 

Time Delay Considerations 

Another factor in deciding when and where to incorporate is the time that it takes. Some jurisdictions are faster than others. Below is the standard processing time in business days that it takes to obtain the certificate of incorporation following your submission of the articles of incorporation. However there may be additional delays in addition to the processing time listed below for name approvals. 

Jurisdiction  Standard   Expedited    Processing  Processing

Federal  5 days              3 days

Alberta  5 days                3 days

British Columbia  10 days              7 days

Manitoba  15 days            6 days

Newfoundland  21 days            not applicable

New Brunswick  15 days            not applicable

Nova Scotia  21 days            not applicable

Ontario  5 days              2 days

Prince Edward Island  15 days            not applicable

Quebec  18 days            5 days

Saskatchewan  21 days            not applicable 

Do I need an Attorney? 

You are not required to have an attorney, you can prepare the documentation yourself, and however there are many requirements of incorporation that you need to be aware of if you decide to do it yourself. 

How to select a name? 

Selecting a name for your corporation is difficult. Your corporate name must be acceptable and conform to various requirements. The most confusing part of coming up with a corporate name is that it can not be the same as, or too similar to, any other corporation or business using a name. 

A corporate name is usually made from three parts:

1.      Distinctive element – this is the part of your company name that distinguishes it from other companies.

2.      Descriptive element – this is the part of your company name that describes what type of business you have

3.      Legal ending – this proves the legal type of your company and you can choose from the following:                  Incorporated                  Inc.                  Limited                  Ltd.                  Corporation                  Corp. 

The distinctive and legal ending for a business name is required, but the descriptive element is not required.