Canada

Several of Air Canada's employee unions want the Canadian government to put up all of the C$600 million ($545 million) the cash-strapped carrier needs to meet immediate financial obligations, and shut out private lenders. The unions are concerned that lucrative landing slots, which it said the company has proposed putting up as part of collateral for loans, could end up in private hands and then be sold, said Katherine Thompson, spokeswoman for the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

Bazis International, a Kazakh developer planning a C$542 million ($490 million) hotel- condominium tower in Toronto, struck a deal with lenders that stopped the project from being put into immediate receivership, Bloomberg reported. A group of private lenders, who put up C$46 million for the development, deferred a request before an Ontario judge to place the project into receivership yesterday and sell the property in the center of Toronto after negotiating all day with Bazis lawyers. Ontario Superior Court Judge Herman Siegel adjourned the request to Aug.

Workers at the French arm of telecommunications manufacturer Nortel have threatened to blow up their factory unless they secure decent layoff terms, but gas cylinders placed around the plant were empty, the National Post reported on a Reuters story. French daily Le Parisien said on Wednesday the workers had placed gas cylinders in front of the plant in the Yvelines area near Paris, where 480 jobs are set to be axed following bankruptcy proceedings.

Bedford, Nova Scotia-based SportsClick Inc. has been put into interim receivership by its chief creditor, the Bank of Montreal, The ChronicleHerald reported. Ron Monet, BMO’s director of corporate communications for Quebec and Atlantic Canada, confirmed that trustee Ernst & Young has been appointed as interim receiver for the Bedford firm, which owes BMO $872,000. The receiver will look at SportsClick’s situation and evaluate what steps to take next, said Mr. Monet. The bank claims that SportsClick opened and used HSBC bank accounts for deposits, which Mr.

Air Canada’s biggest union, representing 12,300 mechanics and ground staff, has voted in favour of a tentative agreement that aims to provide labour stability and help avoid a second filing for bankruptcy protection in less than six years, The Toronto Star reported. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted 60.3 per cent in favour of a pact that calls for a 21-month moratorium on payments to the airline's pension plans and a wage freeze over the same period, among other things.

Air Canada's pilots agreed Monday to support a plan for a 21-month moratorium on part of the airline's pension obligations and an extension of its current labour contracts -- a move management says is the lynchpin in it securing the necessary financing to avoid a bankruptcy filing, the Financial Post reported. "We did our part here to be part of the restructuring outside of CCAA, but there is still a lot of work to be done," said Serge Beaulieau, the chair of the Air Canada Pilots Association master executive council.

Air Canada's flight attendants approved a plan for a 21-month moratorium on the airline's pension obligations and an extension of their current contract over the same period late Sunday, the Financial Post reported. The union's membership voted 63% in favour of the plan, which management has said is vital in the airline staving off a second bankruptcy filing in six years. Air Canada's pilots are expected to release the result of their own ratification vote Monday morning.

The massive North American auto supplier network took a major hit as Lear Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, becoming the latest example of how the collapse in vehicle sales has spread well beyond vehicle manufacturers and deep into the thousands of firms that supply them with parts. Lear Corp., whose bankruptcy filing is the largest among auto suppliers this year, owes $7 million (U.S.) to Canadian parts makers already struggling through the worst downturn in the auto industry in a generation, The Globe and Mail reported.

Adaltis Inc, a Canadian medical device maker, said on Friday it was granted protection from its creditors by a Quebec court while it works on a reorganization plan, Reuters reported. Montreal-based Adaltis, which warned earlier this week that it was running out of money, said the Quebec Superior Court approved its application under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada). The court also approved debtor-in-possession financing of up to C$3 million ($2.6 million) through Victoria Square Ventures Inc to fund operations during the reorganization process.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics have become a bargaining chip at Air Canada as the country's largest airline tries to overcome labour strife and avoid filing for bankruptcy protection, The Globe and Mail reported. Air Canada mechanics and technical staff, worried about losing their jobs to El Salvador, narrowly voted down a tentative 21-month labour pact that had been recommended by union negotiators, throwing the cash-strapped carrier's recovery strategy into jeopardy.