The corporations that wish to merge must be from the same jurisdiction, and have been incorporated or continued under the same law. Business corporations incorporated under the Quebec Business Corporations Act with each other, and those incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act with each other.

However, certain solvency tests must be met prior to the merger. An insolvent business corporation cannot merge with another business corporation. The provincial legislature, however, allows an insolvent business corporation to merge on the condition that the resulting business corporation meets the solvency requirements of the law.

The resulting business corporation possesses the rights and assumes the obligations of the merging business corporations. The "new" business corporation becomes the owner of the assets of each business corporation and is responsible for all debts.

The corporate laws provide two methods of merger. One is called the "simplified" method, where a parent corporation vertically merges with one or more subsidiary corporations, or horizontally between two or more subsidiaries owned by the same parent corporation. The simplified merger requires only the adoption of a resolution by the board of directors of each merging business corporation and the submission of articles of merger to the Registrar of Enterprises or to Corporation Canada. The other method is called the "ordinary" merger, which merges all business corporations that do not have the aforementioned relationship. The ordinary merger requires each merging business corporation to sign a merger agreement stating the terms of the merger. In Quebec, the adoption of a merger by-law is required, while at the federal level, the merger agreement must be approved by the shareholders. Articles of merger are then filed.