Canada

Telecom equipment company Nortel Networks Corp. said Tuesday it has received a bankruptcy protection extension to May 1 from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Associated Press reported. Nortel filed for creditor protection Jan. 14 in Canada and the United States and got an initial 30-day protection period. The Toronto-based company became the first major technology company to take that step in this global downturn. The filing came a day before Nortel was due to make a debt payment of $107 million.

Nortel Networks Corp is working on a "detailed plan" to further cut its global workforce as it restructures under bankruptcy protection, and it will seek to avoid holding an annual shareholder meeting because it says it would be distracting and expensive, Ernst & Young Inc, the monitor overseeing Nortel's bankruptcy protection, said in a court report posted on its website.

Nortel Networks Corp. is seeking a three-month extension to deal with its restructuring under bankruptcy protection, The Canadian Press reported. The company is asking the courts for the stay period to be extended to May 1. Nortel spokesperson Mohammed Nakhooda said motions were filed late Thursday and will be dealt with next week.

Personal bankruptcies among Canadians rose 9% in the first 11 months of 2008 over 2007, Equifax Canada has reported. The information solutions company’s most recent data, as of Nov. 30, shows that the number of consumer bankruptcy filings for 2008 had reached 109,068, up from 100,253 bankruptcies at the end of November 2007, Investment Executive reported. By the end of November, total consumer bankruptcies had already surpassed, by 1.6%, the total amount of bankruptcies for all of 2007, which totalled 107,312.

Former employees of bankrupt Nortel Networks Corp. have called on the troubled telecommunications company to restore promised severances it suspended after filing for Chapter 11 protection earlier this month, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. In a memo sent to Nortel Chief Executive Mike Zafirovski and other officers, the workers urged the Canadian company to show good faith and reverse its decision to deny the payouts.

CPI Plastics Group Ltd., the plastics maker based in Mississauga, Ontario, sought bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S., blaming the deepening U.S. recession and rising prices of raw materials, Bloomberg reported. The 37-year-old firm and four of its units were forced into bankruptcy by the Bank of Montreal after CPI’s $3.4 million loss in the fourth quarter violated loan agreements with the bank. CPI, which has a facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, has debt of about $54.4 million and estimated assets of less than $100 million, court papers show.

Strategic Resource Acquisition said on Thursday it had filed for bankruptcy protection as a plunge in metals prices and tight credit conditions left the zinc miner unable to pay its bills, Reuters reported. Toronto-based SRA said it and its U.S. subsidiary, Mid-Tennessee Zinc Corp, have filed for U.S. Chapter 11 protection, and said it was also seeking protection in Canada under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

Toronto-based Nortel Networks Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S. on Wednesday, becoming the first major technology company to take that step in this global downturn, the Associated Press reported. The filing came a day before Nortel was due to make a debt payment of $107 million. Facing a sharp drop in orders from phone companies, the telecommunications equipment maker used the bankruptcy filings to buy time to explore restructuring options like selling off assets.

Word that the federal and Ontario governments will provide the struggling auto sector with $4 billion in emergency loans was blasted by opposition critics and was lauded by industry and union spokesmen, the Canadian Press reported. The announcement Saturday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in Toronto came a day after President George W. Bush offered US$17.4 billion in emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had promised Canada would offer 20 percent of the U.S.

A collapse of the Detroit Three automakers would put nearly 600,000 Canadians out of work within five years, most of them in Ontario, as the impact ripples through the entire economy according to a report released Tuesday, the Calgary Herald reported. The study, commissioned by the Ontario Manufacturing Council, warned that a collapse of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC would spread across the country, hitting creditors, suppliers, parts manufacturers and dealerships. The report came as the Canadian and U. S.