A Gatineau newsprint mill followed its owner into bankruptcy protection Wednesday, the latest victim of hard times in the newspaper industry, The Ottawa Citizen reported. Papier Masson is one of three mills in Quebec and another in Virginia affected by the decision of White Birch Paper, the parent company, to seek protection from creditor suits in the U.S. and Canada. The Papier Masson mill, formerly owned by James Maclaren Industries and Noranda, had 195 employees when White Birch bought it in 2005.

Signature Aluminum Canada Inc. has until the end of the week to present a viable restructuring plan before its court-appointed stay of proceedings expires, opening the floodgates for creditors looking to force the struggling company into full-blown bankruptcy, American Metal Market reported.

Nortel Networks Corp. and units that filed for creditor protection in Canada have reached a settlement agreement on certain matters regarding former Canadian employees, including the company's Canadian registered pension plans, Dow Jones reported. Under the agreement, the former Canadian technology icon will continue to administer the pension plans until Sept. 30. After that date, the plans will be transitioned to a new administrator appointed by the Superintendent of Financial Services.

IT firm Zylog Systems today said it has acquired Canada-based consulting and engineering company Brainhunter for 35 million Canadian dollars (around Rs 150 crore), the Business Standard reported. "This acquisition is through Creditors Arrangement Act bidding process where Zylog emerged as the successful bidder," the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Brainhunter is into consulting and engineering services in Canada with major presence in government, telecom, BFSI, and oil & pipeline verticals.

An American-based multinational company interested in buying Grant Forest Products promises to keep the oriented strand board manufacturer operating, Northern News reported. Georgia-Pacific, owned by Koch Industries, signed an agreement to buy Grant Forest Product operations in Englehart, Earlton and South Carolina earlier this month. Grant Forest Products sought protection to restructure under the Companies' Creditors' Arrangement Act in June 2009.

Canwest’s main creditors have won backing from a majority of the company’s lenders for a plan to restructure the newspaper publishing chain, despite opposition from Chief Executive Leonard Asper, The Toronto Sun reported. According to McMillan LLP, the legal firm representing the main creditors, 135 lenders holding nearly 77% of the company’s senior secured debt have committed their support to the plan. That “surpasses both thresholds required for the restructuring plan’s approval,” the statement said.

The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association did not fight for more than 200 members told to close by General Motors last year because its interests lay with surviving retailers in the firm's restructuring, a class-action lawsuit says. Although the lawsuit on behalf of affected dealers does not name the association as a defendant, the statement of claim says the umbrella group rejected all pleas for help about their futures, The Toronto Star reported. Trillium Motor World of Toronto sued General Motors of Canada Ltd.

A Toronto car dealership has launched a $750-million class-action suit on behalf of more than 200 General Motors of Canada Ltd. dealers that seeks compensation for how GM handled the termination of their outlets last year, The Globe and Mail reported. The suit names the auto maker, law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and two of the firm's lawyers.

Canadian bankruptcies rose 2.4 percent in November from a year earlier as consumers struggled to repay debts, but business bankruptcies were down sharply, suggesting the worst may be over for corporate insolvency, Reuters reported. The number of consumer bankruptcies in November rose 3.9 percent from November 2008 to 8,482, while business bankruptcies fell 21.7 percent to 396, the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada said in a report.

A competing bidder has emerged for newspapers being sold by Canwest Global Communications Corp., but it is only interested in the cream of the crop, TheDeal.com reported. A trio of media executives is planning a bid for the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette and National Post, three of the leading daily newspapers owned by the bankrupt Canadian media company, according to press reports. Their selectivity may prove a problem because CanWest and its creditors have made clear that the court-monitored auction is for all or substantially all of the newspaper assets.