[3][4] Until the passage of the Bankruptcy Act in 1919,[5] it was the only federal statute governing insolvency, and it only extended to corporations.
[6][a] In 1966, bankruptcy proceedings were given precedence over winding-up proceedings,[8] and any of the latter instituted prior to a bankruptcy petition or assignment coming into effect had to be abated forthwith.
[19] It also offers a little-used route for corporations (other than those governed by the CBCA, CCoopA or CNPCA) to seek liquidation or winding-up that does not necessarily call for being insolvent (except for provincially incorporated companies, where the insolvency requirement is mandatory).
[20] Companies for which there is no provision for winding-up either within their native statutes or under applicable provincial legislation[21] comprise those incorporated under:[22] The WURA contains several provisions that stand in contrast to the BIA: In Coopérants, Mutual Life Insurance Society (Liquidator of) v Dubois,[35] the Supreme Court of Canada held that a liquidator appointed under the Act was conceptually distinct from a trustee in bankruptcy appointed under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act: Contrary to what occurs in the case of bankruptcy, the company continues to own its property, which is not transferred to the liquidator.
Under s. 33 of the Winding‑up Act, the liquidator takes all the company's property, effects and choses in action "into his custody or under his control"...[36] The liquidator is an officer of the court, appointed by the court to perform the functions prescribed by the Act and exercising his powers and performing his duties under the court's supervision.