An Ontario appeal court has rejected an attempt by United Steelworkers Local 2724 to overturn two orders made by Justice Frank Newbould in the Essar Steel Algoma restructuring proceedings, Sootoday.com reported. Local 2724, representing Essar Algoma's salaried employees, was trying to appeal decisions made by Judge Newbould on Dec. 22 and 29, 2016. On Dec. 22, Newbould had ordered that a term sheet summarizing the terms and conditions of an agreement between Essar Algoma and Cliffs Mining Co. be disclosed to the union's financial advisor, subject to a non-disclosure agreement. On Dec.
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The worst may not be over for everyone in Canada’s oil patch even as crude prices show signs of stability, Bloomberg News reported. While producers are on firmer footing, oilfield service companies are still keeping restructuring advisers and lawyers busy as the effects of nearly three years of depressed oil prices continue to roll through one of Canada’s most important industries.
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The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has granted a La Havre company an extension for filing its proposal for bankruptcy — with conditions. Kocken Energy Systems Inc. was given the full 45 days to file its proposal, the maximum allowed under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, The Chronicle Herald reported. Kocken manufactures process equipment for the oil and gas industry. In 2011, the two shareholders, William Famulak and Arthur Sager, moved manufacturing from Alberta to La Have. In 2015, Kocken acquired a plant at St. Antoine, N.B.
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A Canadian court has placed the privately held Lexin Resources Ltd oil company in receivership to sell off its assets after an unprecedented application by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), the agency said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The AER's statement came weeks after the agency suspended licenses on all of the company's facilities. The AER has said Lexin had failed to comply with multiple orders, lacked enough staff to manage its more than 1,600 sites and owed more than C$70 million ($52.43 million). Lexin could not be reached for comment.
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Canada’s financial industry is urging the federal government to consider alternatives to proposals that could require them to take on a greater share of mortgage defaults through a deductible -- calling it one of the biggest shakeups to hit housing finance in 50 years, Bloomberg News reported. "This submission has questioned whether a deductible is the most effective way to rebalance risks within the housing finance system,” the Canadian Bankers Association said in a report on Tuesday.
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Essar Looking for Competitive Boost

Rolling back wages 10 per cent is one of five priorities to ensure Essar Steel Algoma is competitive after its restructuring ends, the company's president and chief executive officer says. The steelmaker, under Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act protection since the fall of 2015, wants its unionized workforce, represented by United Steelworkers of America Locals 2251 and 2724, to accept the wage cut so Essar's payroll is in line with its Canadian competitors, Saultstar reported.
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Three years after the shutdown of Wabush Mines by Cliffs Natural Resources, former workers and retirees are looking to a Quebec court to help them recover some of what they lost, CBC News reported. "We're all in this together now," said Rita Pynn, a retiree and member of the Wabush pension committee. "We've got to fight for what we worked for and what we feel Cliffs robbed us of." The workers lost medical benefits when the mine went into creditor protection. The company also left the workers' pension plan underfunded by more than $45 million.
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The CEO of Cameco Corp. says the decision by a Japanese utility to terminate a uranium-supply contract worth about $1.3-billion in revenue from now through 2028 came “out of the blue.” Tim Gitzel said Tokyo Electric Power Co. sent a notice on Jan. 24 saying it wanted to terminate the long-term contract signed in 2009 and would not accept delivery of a shipment due Wednesday, Reuters reported. He said Tepco confirmed the notice on Tuesday despite Cameco’s interim attempts to discuss remedies for the situation. “We were very surprised to get that notice,” Mr.
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Nortel Networks Corp. won approval to start distributing $7.3 billion to creditors, a major step in the long-running demise of the telecommunications company, The Wall Street Journal reported. Judges in Canada and the U.S. on Tuesday cleared Nortel to open up the lockbox containing $7.3 billion raised by selling its businesses and patents in bankruptcy. While most Canadian creditors will collect less than half of what they are owed under the plan, bondholders with claims against both Nortel in Canada and its U.S. unit expect to recover 95% or more of what they’re owed.
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