The Globe and Mail - Derek DeCloet Columns

How many cars will solvency take?

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

In its quest to secure the billions of dollars in help it needs to avoid bankruptcy protection, General Motors has developed a simple narrative. ''We got caught,'' said David Paterson, the man charged with selling the GM story in Canada - caught by the financial meltdown and by a collapse in demand for new cars.

Banking's clogged arteries won't clear overnight

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

Been to the bank for a mortgage lately? A line of credit for doing business? How about a car loan? If you haven't, count yourself lucky. If you have, you've likely seen the unpleasant new reality of borrowing money.

It's a crisis of confidence for Petro-Canada

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

It began as a mortgage crisis. It morphed into a credit crisis, then mutated into a financial crisis, one that has taken a scythe to the value of bonds, loans, stocks, gold, real estate and just about every other asset you can think of. Now it's an economic crisis, deep and global in scope.

$3-billion later, is Manulife on the mend?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

Manulife Financial chief Dominic D'Alessandro took a $3-billion Aspirin last week. But the migraine just won't go away. Yesterday brought yet another beating for bank and insurance stocks. And none was pounded harder than Manulife, which dropped 9.3 per cent and led the SandP/TSX composite to its 500-point loss. That means it has fallen 39 per cent since the end of September, a steeper slide than any other big-name financial stock in Canada - even Sun Life Financial, its smaller, poorer and perennially derided cousin.

Auto subsidies pouring fuel into a leaky gas tank

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00 EST

The Canadian Auto Workers' new president, Ken Lewenza, used the f-word when General Motors last week issued 500 more layoff notices at its car plant in Oshawa, Ont. No, not that word. This one: ''failing.''

Mr. Flaherty, it's time to fix pensions

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 00:00 EDT

Mike Zafirovski must rue the day he took the headhunters' call. In the three years since he took over - has it really been that long? - almost nothing has gone right at Nortel Networks. When he arrived, the accounting was broken. The business is still broken. And now, courtesy of the Great Meltdown, you can add pensions to the litany of financial wounds.

EnCana's CEO on the spot

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:00 EDT

Randy Eresman wants to split up the international powerhouse he helped his predecessor, Gwyn Morgan, create. For now, the plan is on hold. But when it happens, it better pay off, or the notoriously publicity-averse oilman will have a lot of explaining to do

on the spot

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

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No amount of lipstick can save these pigs

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00 EDT

Now that the words ''Bay Street'' and ''Wall Street'' are synonymous with panic, fear and plunging asset prices, it's time for an image makeover. A rebranding campaign, if you will.