Ontario postpones AGMs, allows e-meetings / e-voting and electronic communications to owners
An Order in Council changes condo meetings for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis.
Condo Advisor
by: Rod Escayola 25 April 2020
Late Friday night, Ontario issued an Order in Council amending the Condominium Act to facilitate ongoing governance, amid the Covid-19 crisis. The changes being implemented immediately are broad and have a significant impact on how condos will conduct business during the period of emergency. See below.
AGMs are postponed
All AGMs set to be held during the period of the declared emergency are being postponed:
Condos will now have 90 days after the end of the emergency to hold these meetings;
Condos whose AGMs would have fallen within the first 30 days following the end of the period of emergency will have an additional 120 days to hold their AGMs.
No new notice is required
Corporations will not have to send a new general notice of meeting of owners if the meeting has been postponed as a result of the declared emergency. All that will be required is for owners to be informed of the change in a manner and within a time that is reasonable in the circumstances.
Electronic AGMs
For the duration of the declared emergency, any meeting of owners can be held electronically, regardless of whether the corporation has a by-law permitting it. An owner who votes electronically at such a meeting of owners will be deemed to be present.
Electronic voting
For the duration of the declared emergency, owners will be able to vote electronically, regardless of whether the corporation has a by-law permitting it. This is in addition to all other forms of voting (by show of hand, personally or by proxies.
All notifications to owners can be done electronically
For the duration of the declared emergency, all notices to be sent to owners with respect to a meeting can be sent electronically, regardless if an owner has entered into an agreement authorizing such electronic communications.
Any material required to be put before a meeting of owners can be placed by electronic means.
These communications will be allowed by fax, email or computer to computer network exchange (internet).
Board meetings
Regardless of what by-laws are in place, a meeting of directors can now be called by email and can be held by teleconference or any other form of communications. The consent of all directors for this to take place is no longer required.
This Order in council is retroactive to March 17, 2020.
Rod Escayola’s blog on Ontario’s condo legal issues is, in my opinion, the best legal blog for condo owners, directors and managers in Ontario. Everyone who is interested in condo issues should subscribe to Condo Advisor.
—H. Marshall