Canada

Davie Yards Inc. has halted work on the first and most advanced of five offshore oil supply ships ordered by international customers, and on Monday a further 100 workers will be laid off at its Lévis facilities opposite Quebec City, The Montreal Gazette reported. Davie was given protection from creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act on Feb. 24 after it ran out of cash and began a second restructuring program. It said almost 1,600 employees would be laid off, leaving about 160 working to complete the first vessel and on engineering and planning.

An Alberta judge has appointed a receiver over the companies and assets of Gary Sorenson, who is charged in an alleged fraud that has ballooned to as much as $500-million, making it the country's largest alleged Ponzi scheme, the National Post reported. The justice found that Mr. Sorenson's businesses, known as the Merendon companies, which are located in Central and South America, have received more than $50-million from companies run by his alleged co-conspirator in the Ponzi scheme, Milowe Brost. "None of the companies has accounted for any of the monies received.

Skyservice had survived recessions and dips in travel demand before, The Globe and Mail reported. This past winter marked its eighth year of serving tour operator Signature Vacations and the 15th year of flying on behalf of Sunquest Vacations, which is owned by Thomas Cook Canada Inc. And Skyservice appeared to have had access to a steady stream of revenue from its two major customers until the fall of 2012, court files show. But this time was different. In January, Signature completed its merger with Sunwing Travel Group, which operates its own fleet of planes.

Haemacure Corp said it received permission from the Superior Court of the Province of Quebec to sell its assets to Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc, a secured creditor of Haemacure, Reuters reported. The Canada-based biotherapeutic company said the United States Bankruptcy Court had previously authorized the sale to Angiotech of the assets of Haemacure's U.S. subsidiary. Haemacure also said it obtained a second extension, until April 19, within which to make a proposal to its creditors.

General Motors of Canada Ltd. has rejected calls to follow its parent company's example and voluntarily reinstate dealers who were terminated when the auto maker restructured its operations last year, saying courts and arbitrators should rule on demands by some dealers that their businesses be restored, The Globe and Mail reported. "We cannot rewrite history," Marc Comeau, GM Canada's vice-president of sales and marketing, said in a letter to Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) president Rick Gauthier and the company's remaining Canadian dealers. That answer to Mr.

The sale of Canada's largest English-language daily newspaper chain has attracted some of the country's financial heavyweights as potential suitors, the Financial Post reported. Among the shortlist of bidders for Canwest Limited Partnership, the newspaper division of Winnipeg-based Canwest Global Communications Corp., are Alberta Investment Management Corp.

AbitibiBowater Inc. has struck a new deal with its main union that a labour leader says will help it stave off collapse as it prepares to file a plan by the end of the month to vault out of bankruptcy protection, The Vancouver Sun reported. The insolvent paper giant, which has been under creditor protection since last April, agreed to a tentative work agreement covering 8,000 workers with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada following arduous negotiations, the union said Sunday.

General Motors of Canada Ltd. should match its parent company and reinstate some of the 240 dealerships that were terminated last year when the auto maker was struggling to stay out of bankruptcy protection in Canada, the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) says, the Globe and Mail reported. General Motors Co. offered Friday to permit as many as 660 of the 2,000 U.S. dealers it terminated last year to set up shop again and its Canadian unit should follow suit, says CADA, which represents a total of about 3,000 new vehicle dealers in Canada.

The owner of a British Columbia newspaper group has joined the bidding for bankrupt Canwest Global Communications Corp's newspaper assets, Reuters reported on a Globe and Mail story. The bid from David Black, founder of Black Press Ltd, will compete with offers from at least six other bidders for publications including Canwest's flagship National Post, the Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette, the Globe report said. Platinum Equity LLC, a California private equity firm, is the most likely backer of Black's bid, the Globe reported, citing unnamed sources.