What is escheat and can the Ontario government claim a dissolved corporation's property?

Escheat is the general legal idea that property reverts to the Crown when there's no one left with a legal right to claim it — historically associated with a person dying without heirs, but the same underlying principle applies to corporations. When an Ontario corporation is dissolved and it still owned property that wasn't distributed or otherwise dealt with beforehand, there's no longer a legal person who owns that property, and Ontario's Forfeited Corporate Property Act sets out how that property becomes forfeited to the Crown in right of Ontario in that situation.

So yes, the Ontario government can and does claim property left behind by dissolved corporations under this framework — it isn't a discretionary or occasional practice, but the default legal consequence of property being left ownerless after dissolution. This can include real estate, bank account balances, intellectual property, and other assets the corporation held at the time it stopped existing.

Former shareholders, directors, or others with a legitimate interest aren't automatically shut out forever, but recovering property once it has vested in the Crown typically means either reviving the corporation, where that's still available, or pursuing whatever claims process applies to forfeited property.