I think it may be important for us to clarify the meaning of the word licence. In the context of extra provincial corporations, lawyers and non-lawyers alike use the term licence loosely. In terms of the law in Ontario, a Corporation that has been incorporated in a province outside of Ontario, such as one incorporated in Alberta or Nova Scotia for example, is entitled to do business in Ontario so long as the Corporation registers itself in Ontario within 60 days of starting to do business in Ontario. The filing of the required Form 2, which is the form that needs to be prepared and filed for you along with the required documents, will result in the Corporation that was incorporated outside of Ontario (but within another province of Canada) or that was incorporated federally, receiving an Ontario Corporation Number.
The process is technically registration, not licencing. An extra provincial licence is required for corporations incorporated outside of Canada, not for domestic corporations. "Domestic corporations", for this purpose, means corporations that were incorporated within a province of Canada or that were federally incorporation. It may be that a business will require a licence because of certain requirements the business may have with its regulatory body. That is something that the owner of the Corporation would need to verify with its regulatory body. The licencing process is more expensive and requires the completion of more and different documents than does the registration process.
For information on extra provincial registration, you can go to the following Ontario Government website:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/extra-provincial-corporations-doing-business-ontario
For information on extra provincial licences, you can go to the following Ontario Government website:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/extra-provincial-corporations-licence-outside-canada
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