From modest beginnings, the concept of Cross-Border Insolvency Protocols as a means of enhancing cooperation between administrations in international cases has become an established practice in major cases. From their origins in the International Bar Association’s Cross-Border Insolvency Concordat through the early Protocols in Maxwell Communication and Everfresh Beverages, Protocols have become a mainstay in international reorganizations and restructurings.

A recent decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal has rationalized the approach to be taken by Courts in considering appeals in CCAA cases.

The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench recently permitted a debtor to establish a "hardship" fund to pay obligations incurred prior to the debtor's CCAA filing to local suppliers operating in the debtor’s community.

As previously reported, the International Insolvency Institute will hold its Ninth Annual International Insolvency Conference at Columbia University in New York on June 18 and 19, 2009. This Conference is likely to be the finest international insolvency Conference of the year and has an exceptionally talented and prominent faculty that will address today’s critical international insolvency issues and developments. Among the highlights of the Conference are the following:

AbitibiBowater

As the pace of restructuring activity in Canada continues to accelerate (see the partial listing below), international creditors should be aware that there are credit risks in doing business with a company that is restructuring in either of Canada's two restructuring systems. (These are, briefly, the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act which is generally used for small to medium sized restructurings and the Companies Creditors' Arrangement Act which is generally used for large cases and resembles proceedings under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code).

Canadian Superior

On January 14, 2009, Nortel Networks Corporation obtained protection from its creditors under theCompanies' Creditors Arrangement Act. From a historical perspective, it represents a Canadian icon's fall from grace. It was once an industry heavyweight - at its height its market cap was $250 billion and accounted for two thirds of the total value of the Toronto Stock Exchange. As North America's largest maker of telephone equipment (and now into its 113th year), its problems were compounded by the global financial crisis and North American recession as well as by global competition.

In the early nineties, Quebec adopted new personal property legislation under the reform of the Civil Code of Quebec (the "CCQ"). However, the CCQ incorporated language and legislation from Quebec's former personal property regime. This combination of old and new legislation has, in some cases, left remnants of formalism surrounding the creation of certain types of hypothecs (security interests). In Positron Technologies Inc.

For most lenders, taking security from their borrowers is pretty straightforward: take a general security agreement covering inventory, receivables and all other collateral, add some guarantees, and then look to see if there are any other loose ends that need tying up. But for businesses in regulated industries where some sort of government-issued licence is a threshold requirement, it's not that easy.