So could that explain why many US based companies who own .ca domains can get away with not having a Canadian entity set up?
I.e. ownership of the CIPO-registered Canadian trademark "example" by a Nevada corporation would allow said corporation to register example.ca without any otherwise sufficient Canadian presence
yes....got it in one
Trade-mark registered in Canada.
A Person which does not meet any of the
foregoing conditions, but which is the owner of a trade-mark which is the subject
of a registration under the Trade-marks Act (Canada) R.S.C. 1985, c.T-13 as
amended from time to time, but in this case such permission is limited to an
application to register a .ca domain name consisting of or including the exact
word component of that registered trade-mark; or