Government Will NOT Provide Further Extension to Deadlines to Hold AGMs

The Ontario Government recently confirmed that it will NOT make further amendments to the Condominium Act, 1998, to permit condominiums to defer their annual general meetings beyond the deferral period that was previously granted during the declared emergency period. In part, the release stated:

Annual meetings are an essential component of the democratic functions and self-governance of corporations. They also represent an important opportunity for owners, members or shareholders to raise issues and to monitor the fiscal health, performance and governance of their corporations. As such, there will be no further extensions of annual meeting timelines.

While deferring the AGM made sense for a period of time while we assessed the situation, AGMs should not be deferred for several more months or possibly years while we wait for the pandemic to end. We need to adapt to the new normal. As such, condominiums must hold their AGMs in the prescribed time (see our previous post for more information on the deadlines: https://ontcondolaw.com/2020/07/30/end-of-the-declared-emergency-your-most-common-condo-agm-questions-answered/).

The Government did hint that they are considering extending the temporary amendments to permit virtual meetings and electronic voting to continue longer than the current period without a by-law. The release stated:

In order to ensure that corporations continue to be able to conduct meetings while protecting the health of Ontarians, the ministry is exploring changes that would extend the in-effect period of the temporary amendments related to virtual meetings and will communicate further updates as appropriate.

We understand that most of the virtual meeting providers are booked solid until 2021 now with all of the condominiums in Ontario moving to a virtual meeting for their AGMs and other meetings. Given the limited availability of the virtual meeting providers, hopefully the Government will consider some other potential solutions, such as formally recognizing "proxy only" meetings as appropriate for less controversial business.

For condominiums with deadlines approaching and no virtual meeting providers available to host the meeting, you can consider hosting the meeting on your own (or with the assistance of your lawyer or manager) or finding a venue to host the meeting in person with physical distancing requirements maintained. For larger condominiums, neither of these solutions is ideal, but both can work with a little extra effort.

Stay tuned!