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WorldCom
It was dubbed 'WorldCon' by one astute headline writer. Founded by Canadian Bernard Ebbers, WorldCom catapulted itself to the top of the business world in a year that saw Wall Street deluged with corporate scandal. The company was forced to file for bankruptcy protection - the biggest in history at $107-billion (U.S.) - after admitting to a $3.8-billion accounting fraud that allowed it to show a profit when it actually lost money. That admission ballooned to $9-billion before the year was done.

The scandal hit the stock markets, dragging them down and putting officials on a crusade to clean up the Street. WorldCom's accounting debacle even eclipsed the Chapter 11 filing by collapsed energy trader Enron Corp., and followed filings by other big-name companies, such as Global Crossing Ltd. and Adelphia Communications Corp. WorldCom's ex-chief financial officer, Scott Sullivan and former controller David Myers were both charged. Mr. Myers pleaded guilty to a charge in November. Mr. Ebbers, who does not face charges, made the headlines after it was disclosed that he had taken out a whopping $415-million in personal loans.

Going through withdrawl: Canada's banks
It was tough year for Canada's biggest banks. Profits tumbled by nearly a third in 2002, as they absorbed the sting of sagging equity markets and bad loans to scandal-plagued U.S. telecom, power and utilities companies. Royal Bank of Canada was the only one to emerge with hefty profits from its U.S. operations and reported a record year. The year also marked a changing of the guard at two of the banks. Charles Baillie, the CEO of Toronto-Dominion Bank, announced he will give up the chairman's seat a year earlier than planned while Peter Godsoe, his contemporary at Bank of Nova Scotia, said it plans to leave in 2003 after nearly a decade at the helm.

The prickly subject of bank mergers resurfaced after marriage talks between Scotiabank and Bank of Montreal were reportedly nixed in October by the Prime Minister's Office. In December, a Senate banking committee recommended that the government allow the country's big banks to merge, providing hope that the unions could take place.

Guess who's gone (again): Eatons
Die another day, indeed. It turns out you can keep a Canadian retailer down. Many shook their heads when Sears Canada Inc. decided to reopen seven Eatons stores under that banner after the original chain went bust. The stores were launched in November, 2000, amid a lavish ad campaign and much skepticism.

Although Sears - which bought the outlets in 1999 after the failure of T. Eaton Co. Ltd. - didn't break out the financial performance of the stores in its earnings, there was a widespread belief that all was not well in the land of the living-dead retailers. By February, 2002, the naysayers were proven correct. That's when Sears CEO Mark Cohen said the chain needs to "stick to our knitting" and punted the once legendary brand. The Eatons experiment, he said, was "problematic" from the start and the stores would be pulled back under the Sears brand.

Softwood slumber
Was it a year ago when some on Parliament Hill were calling an end to the softwood lumber wars, more better known in some quarters as the softwood slumber file?

Twelve months later, the logjam persists. Canadian producers are paying a crippling 27-per-cent duty on all shipments of U.S.-bound softwood timber, leading to layoffs and plant shutdowns across the country and the American lumber lobby - and Canadian opposition politicians - are crying foul. The situation will probably not change anytime soon as the two countries have abandoned the bargaining table while a series of complicated appeals wind through international courts.

Ontario unplugged
It was a tumultuous summer for Hydro One, the firm the Ontario government created four years ago through a restructuring of Ontario Hydro: Its entire board of directors quit, its chief executive officer, Eleanor Clitheroe, was fired and a full IPO was scrapped. The public offering would have seen Hydro One emerge as one of the top players on the otherwise ailing Toronto Stock Exchange, raising $5.5-billion.

Shortly after it was scrapped, Ms. Clitheroe was fired as CEO with no severance amid allegations she ran up a $330,000 limousine bill, used her company credit card for personal expenses and charged $40,000 worth of home renovations to Hydro. All of the money has been repaid, and Ms. Clitheroe, who is now suing Hydro One for wrongful dismissal and slander, denies the allegations. Premier Ernie Eves faced the wrath of consumers after sky-high hydro bills in the summer forced him take the fall and cap prices while sending a $75 rebate cheque to Ontarians, while losing more cache on Bay Street.

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