The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has requested that EarthFirst Canada Inc., a leading developer of renewable wind energy, voluntarily suspend trading of its common shares and common share warrants on the TSX, Energy Current reported on a company press release. In light of EarthFirst having sought protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, its recently announced conditional sale of the Dokie I Project and Dokie Expansion Project and EarthFirst's obligations to the TSX, EarthFirst's directors have agreed to the trading suspension.

Labour talks between Air Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers have broken off until early next week after the parties hit an impasse over management's request for a moratorium on its pension payments this year, The Calgary Herald reported on a Financial Post story. "It's not the only sticking point, but it's the key sticking point," said Leslie Dias, CAW Local 2002 president. The CAW represents 4,500 sales and service agents at the airline and its current contract is set to expire on Sunday. But Ms. Dias said the talks will continue next week.

The federal government has appointed the judge who oversaw Air Canada's insolvency filing six years ago to mediate the latest pension dispute between the company and its unionized employees, The Canadian Press reported. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, acting on his own initiative, asked James Farley to devise a sustainable path for the airline's pension plan that is acceptable to Air Canada, its unions and its retiree association. Farley, currently in private practice for McCarthy Tetrault, presided over Air Canada's bankruptcy restructuring that began in April 2003 and lasted 18 months.

Grupo Mexico SAB, Mexico's largest mining company, said Tuesday it is offering $2.9 billion in a new reorganization plan to take its U.S. copper unit, Asarco LLC, out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, where it has languished since August 2005, The Wall Street Journal reported. Grupo Mexico's fight to regain control of the Tucson, Ariz., company--which is being run by an independent board set up by the bankruptcy court--is part of a long-running saga that has played out across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Grupo Mexico SAB was ordered by a U.S. judge to put into escrow $8.84 billion worth of stock in its Southern Copper Corp. while it appeals a decision it lost in a Texas court, Bloomberg reported. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas, ruled yesterday that Grupo’s Americas Mining unit must set aside the stock after losing a lawsuit and being ordered to return 260 million shares of Southern Copper to Asarco LLC along with $1.38 billion in cash.

The chairman of General Motors Argentina, Edgar Lourencon, confirmed that the automaker would not lay off personnel in the country, a day after its mother company in the United States filed for bankruptcy protection, the Buenos Aires Herald reported. Dismissing any rumours about the future of the company, the head of the local branch of GM meanwhile announced that the company is currently developing a new model to be produced in a plant in Santa Fe, which will be exported to the rest of the countries of the Mercosur.

While General Motors Corp. will almost certainly file for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. on Monday, its Canadian subsidiary should emerge from a massive restructuring process relatively unscathed, The Canadian Press reported. The restructuring, which has already been in the works for months and will cost governments around the world tens of billions of dollars, will see the company that once defined the automobile--and capitalism--in North America emerge a government-controlled shadow of its former self.

The government is warning that it will not be reluctant to place the Jamaica Citrus Growers Limited into receivership if its board of directors fails to make certain critical decisions, by the end of this week, about the restructuring of the company, The Gleaner reported. The company is now facing bankruptcy following liquidity problems that commenced in 2006.

Air Canada is in a cash crunch partly because the previous management group "lost the plot" as the economy turned last year. But the company may still be able to avoid a return to bankruptcy protection, provided it can strike a deal with its unions that doesn't increase costs and ensures labour peace, said Robert Milton, chairman and CEO of Air Canada's controlling shareholder, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. Pensions have emerged as the central issue in the talks with pilots, flight attendants and other unionized employees for new contracts.

One of Putnam County's largest employers is seeking protection from its creditors in a Canadian court, LimaOhio.com reported. W.C. Wood Corp., a Canadian manufacturer with a plant in Ottawa, filed a Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act application for protection in the Canadian courts. It has also filed a Chapter 15 application, which assures that any action stemming from the CCAA would also apply to the company's U.S. plant. The action will allow W.C. Wood to hold off creditors while it works on a restructuring plan.