Heenan Blaikie, a Canadian law firm well known for its labor and employment practice, said late on Wednesday its partners had voted to dissolve the firm in the face of financial pressures, making it the largest failure of a law firm in Canadian history, Reuters reported on a Canadian Lawyer story. The Montreal-based firm, which traces its roots back to the 1970s, said the move to wind down operations came after an in-depth analysis of its restructuring options in the current legal market.

Tuscany International Drilling Inc., a Canadian oil-field services company that operates in South America, sought U.S. bankruptcy court protection from creditors, citing heavy competition and slow payments from customers, Bloomberg News reported. The Calgary-based company listed assets and debt of as much as $500 million each in Chapter 11 papers filed today in Wilmington, Delaware. A Houston-based affiliated holding company also filed for bankruptcy.

Management at Bixi and all their employees received a total of $223,000 in salary bonuses in December, one month before the city-controlled bike-sharing service was forced to file for bankruptcy protection. The company is nearly $50 million in debt, most of which — $38 million — is owed to the City of Montreal, which advanced or guaranteed its loans, The Montreal Gazette reported.

A company which transformed a rooftop parkade into a mass-producing vegetable greenhouse — and touted by Mayor Gregor Robertson as an example of Vancouver’s “booming clean tech sector” — has filed for bankruptcy and owes its creditors more than $4 million, the Vancouver Courier reported. Bankruptcy records show Alterrus Systems Inc. and its subsidiary Local Garden Vancouver Inc. declared bankruptcy Jan. 21 after less than two years of operation at 535 Richards St.

Bixi has applied for protection from its creditors and the City of Montreal is taking over the local operation of the popular bike-sharing service, CBC News reported. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre made the announcement Monday afternoon. “If Bixi can be saved, it’s through the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act," Coderre said. The company that owns Bixi — the Public Bike System Company, known in French as the Société de vélos en libre-service (SVLS) — owes $50 million to various creditors, including the City of Montreal.

Financially troubled Colossus Minerals Inc., a development-stage miner focused on Brazil, intends to file for protection under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, GlobalPost reported on a Canadian Press story. Trading in shares of Colossus, which was unable to make a Dec. 31 interest payment on its convertible gold-linked notes, have been halted on the Toronto Stock Exchange pending a delisting review. Colossus said Tuesday that its board has approved a proposal from certain noteholders and Sandstorm Gold Ltd.

Quebecor Inc. is showing interest in purchasing struggling wireless startup Mobilicity, a move that could potentially change Canada’s national wireless landscape at a time of faltering competition, The Globe and Mail reported. Bank of Nova Scotia analyst Jeff Fan said in a research note that the Montreal company signed a non-disclosure agreement with Mobilicity ahead of a key spectrum auction that began on Tuesday, suggesting it may harbour ambitions of securing more wireless licences outside its home market of Quebec.

Mobilicity is attempting to lay the groundwork to ask an Ontario court to force the sale of its wireless licences to Telus Corp. or another large carrier after a federal ban on such deals expires next month, BNN reported on a Globe and Mail story. Mobilicity plans to ask the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to issue an order that could pave the way for the transfer of its spectrum licences to another carrier, even if the federal government objects to a potential deal, according to court filings.

The cash-strapped Land Conservancy of British Columbia has decided to reduce its debt load by selling a historic property in a deal that could see it once again become a working farm, Metro News reported on a Canadian Press story. Land Conservancy manager John Shields says officials are nearing completion of a deal to sell Keating Farm, located about 60 kilometres north of Victoria near Duncan, for nearly $750,000. He says the prospective buyer is pledging to restore the site to a working farm.

Lone Pine Resources Inc. is requesting U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval of its reorganization plan, contingent with its also receiving the Canadian bankruptcy court's blessing early next year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company is scheduled to ask the Canadian court to approve its plan during a sanction hearing on Jan. 9. That approval will implement the plan in Canada, but it still would require U.S. court confirmation. Lone Pine is requesting that on Jan. 14, the U.S.