Canada Corporations Registry: What the Data Contains and How to Use It

Corporations Canada vs Provincial Registries

Canada has two layers of company registration: federal and provincial. Corporations Canada is the federal registry, covering companies incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act. The federal registry covers over 400,000 active federally incorporated companies.

What the Data Contains

Federal corporation data includes: corporation name, corporation number, date of incorporation, company type (business corporation, cooperative, not-for-profit), status (active, dissolved, inactive), and registered office province.

The Canadian Market

Canada is an excellent B2B market for UK and US-based businesses expanding internationally. The business culture is similar to both markets, the language is English, and the regulatory environment is familiar. New federal corporation registrations run at approximately 5,000–8,000 per month.

Integration with a North American Strategy

Canadian company data fits naturally into a North American prospecting strategy alongside SEC EDGAR (US public companies) and SAM.gov (US government contractors). Cross-referencing these sources gives you a fuller picture of the Canadian companies most actively engaged in the US market.