Ownership can meet the test at fifty percent, but only if the investor genuinely develops and directs the enterprise. Equal shares combined with control rights that favour the partner, or a partner who is not a treaty national when more than half must be, defeat the case.
What usually goes wrong
The failure is almost always in the operating agreement rather than the cap table. Hypothetical example: a Lévis financial-planning adviser and an American colleague each put in half the capital to buy a small U.S. bookkeeping practice.
The Canadian's fifty percent counts toward treaty ownership, and fifty is enough on that arithmetic. But their agreement names the American as managing member with sole signing authority on the bank account and the power to hire. On those terms she does not develop and direct anything; she is a passive half-owner.
Fixing it means either negotiating genuine joint control with deadlock provisions that do not hand the decision to the partner, or restructuring so that she holds operational control as manager. Do this before money moves, because an agreement amended after the consular interview looks like what it is. The consular officer will read the agreement; write it so it answers the question.