Canadian North's owner says airline is now free of NTCL debt

The owner of Canadian North says the airline is now free of any debt amassed by its former sister company — and the now-dissolved — Northern Transportation Company Limited (NTCL).

On Friday, the Inuvialuit Development Corporation (IDC), the business arm of the N.W.T.'s Inuvialuit people, said in a press release that ownership of the airline, as well as Weldco-Beales Manufacturing, has been transferred "directly into IDC."

Like NTCL, Canadian North and Weldco-Beales (which makes heavy equipment attachments in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario) were owned by Norterra, an Edmonton-based management company which was in turn owned by IDC.

This old family tree makes it clearer:

NTCL amassed $140 million in debt and couldn't repay it, opening other Norterra companies to being tapped to repay.

• $140M debt, which NTCL can't repay, could spread to Canadian North

But according to IDC, the transfer to IDC announced Friday "leaves both companies free from any external debt" related to Norterra.

So what did Norterra do exactly?

Before the N.W.T. government purchased NTCL's assets in December — effectively ending the shipping company's 85-year existence — NTCL shares were held by both IDC and Norterra.

• N.W.T. bought NTCL assets to preserve 'a lifeline' to remote communities

However, the Inuvialuit people had no voting shares in NTCL, putting all of the power of the shipping company in Norterra's hands.

The same was true of Canadian North and Weldco-Beales; Norterra was the sole shareholder of those companies.

Besides having voting power, Norterra oversaw the companies' budgets, investments and senior management recruiting.

With NTCL out of the picture and Canadian North and Weldco-Beales now fully owned by IDC, CBC News asked Mark Fleming, a vice president at IDC, about Norterra's future.

"Norterra is not dissolved and will remain a private holding company," he said.

Norterra's website remained active for a period after NTCL's assets were purchased, listing Canadian North and Weldco Beales as its remaining subsidiaries.

But the website was offline this week. 

Read the full IDC release below. On mobile? Click here.