The relatively modest amendments in Bill C-97 with respect to the CCAA and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act would have had little impact in the case of Sears.
The problem in the Sears Canada fiasco was that despite the pension plan having a funding deficit since 2007, the directors of that company authorized a series of very significant dividend payments. While the company was within the requirements of solvency funding rules with respect to its pension plan deficit, there were no other restrictions, and indeed, no requirement on supervisors, that is, pension regulatory and superintendent bodies, to track what was occurring and intervene, despite the fact that the company was clearly being put at risk and the ability of the sponsor to make good on the pension deficit was being placed in question.
That's a long answer, but the short answer is no, I don't think any of the very modest amendments being proposed in this bill would have addressed that situation.