Manley Muses About Nortel’s Demise

I am sick, thru and thru, of senior nortel people spouting this fake empathy and concern. How can they possibly know what its like for ordinary people so have thier livelihood suddenly removed with no notice, severance or respect. They can THINK they know how it is, but they do not know.

Quite simply they had DESTROYED many people and if they felt 1% of the turmoil we've been thru they would not sleep for years.

They have had many years to fix the patient and FAILED. Quite simply they FAILED. They might get to keep 1% of thier dignity if they actually admitted that but I will not hold my breath

The RUINED many peoples lives - investors and employees alike.

It beats me why the Financial Post is giving these looses airtime

As Mark notes, he is writing about it as if he was a third party, not a member of the board of directors during the period Nortel failed. Looks to me he's trying to distance himself from it. I have a difficulty there. I don't really see how a board member can realsitically hope to distance himself from the company he was on of board of.

Nortel brass is still abiding by its ad slogan - Business Made Simple. Thats what they meant by it. Just say: Whoa. Oops. Bummer, dude. Oh, well.

Thats the Way. Thats Nortel.

A few people in BNR RTP may still have their sunglasses promo with the inscription "The future's so bright, we gotta wear shades".

Check this out... this completely incompetent loser is actually being promoted that highlights the incredible lack of accountability in the business world today so I say I sincerely hope that the companies that ignored his useless tenure on the Nortel Board of Directors pay the same price as Nortel.

"Manley to Lead Top Business Lobby Group"

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Business/Manley+le...

Madoff gets 150 years with no guarantees by Wall Street there aren't more Madoff's out there, the Canadian mint is claiming 15 million from their insurance for missing gold as RCMP probe, Mulrooney testifies with bells on and answers for overwhelming circumstances, Manley gets appointed to head CEOs after trading options for cash at insolvent Nortel, etc... When will it cease...I am feeling more like a conspiracy theorist nowadays, is it me? =)

Madoff gets 150 years
---
re
In any other country exposed frauds go to the court.
Even in many dictatorship and communist countries.
In Canada after the first exposure they go back under cover with gag orders. We don't even know if Frank Dunn trial is pending or already over. There was the gag order on that "trial" which someone lately just posted about.

I heard Frank is selling calculators at the stittsville flea market.

Once a dud will always be a dud !

But at least give Manley the credit for speaking up..The rest of the BoD should be led to the cliff and given a gently push..They are a shame for any affiliations after this is all said and done about Nortel.

Credit for speaking up?
Credit for speaking up?
The rest are too scared and embarrassed to speak up.
They have a conscience and some brains.
Manley is living the politico Dream.
Full of BS and vinegar.
He thinks he is stalin and can do no wrong and all the peons are wrong.
Credit my ass.

Even China has much better political leaders (from Deng Xiao Ping to Grandpa Wen) than the politicians we have in Canada.

My Nortel stocks are worthless
My voting right is useless

More at www.alagan.com/blog.html

Ya know as much as it pains me to say it, I think you're right.
We might as well be communist.
It can't be any worse than it is now.
At least the immigration problem would be dealt with properly.

It's hard to believe but Manley who with his "“personally and deeply saddened by what’s happened. And I am heartsick about the impact on individuals. "
statement,didn't seem to have a problem accepting cash as compensation along with the rest of Nortel's BoD.

But the sickest part of it all is that he like most probably the rest of th board knew before anyone else that Nortel was soon to file for chapter 11 protection.

Yes that's right...all of the board members had no problem accepting cash as salary even as they sent CEO Mike Z over to parliament Hill looking for financial aid from the CDN Governenment aka "the tax payers"!!

If one word could be used to describe these clowns,what would it be?

Shameless would be my choice.

While Nortel's board may have to take some of the blame for the company's struggles, the reality is Nortel has been broken for a long time. My thoughts on
this sad situation can be found here: www.thetelecomblog.com

Oh I see so because something is broken it gives you the excuse to lie to people and make them think nothing is broken?
Good plan!!!

also to note that Manley was Finance minister. What the hell he was doing at any of Nortel's board meetings for the past 5 years is anybody's guess.

If you are a smart former finance guy, one would assume you'd get it or be able to input.

So either Manley, you are super dumb or did not do your job as a Director. Take your pick Manley.

So either Manley, you are super dumb or did not do your job as a Director. Take your pick Manley.
====
re
zeroman, let me vent here...
He did what he was supposed to do. He is not dumb for his pocket, is he? Former finance Minister!
Lets go back to Nortel's ex CEO Jean Monty.
He "groomed" John Roth to be next CEO. They were friends.
So what they did?
When NT stock was at the pick Jean Monty shorted the stock very much so. At that time he was CEO of BCE. BCE shareholders got NT shares in spin off and NT stock reached the pick of $124 on TSX /in old numbers/. At the end of 2001 Jean Monty bragged about profits for BCE of $4 bill. What about friends at Nortel he left? They still played golf together I guess. Jean Monty did more friendly advice for his old friend.
John Roth cashed his $150 mill or so! Should he complain?

What BoD did when they saw that BCE is dumping Nortel stock?
What BOD did when Frank Dunn was exposed as the crooked accountant and CEO? I don't have to use alleged here! They were very sorry to fire him, as there were close friends with him. The evidence was overwhelming thou.
or
next CEO Bill Owens
BoD gave him his money! He got more than $10 mill for few months on the job but long enough to screw Nortel even more.
Comes Mike Z who defrauded MOT from the day One.
Did BoD know about that? Sure. That Mike Z character was the best for the job.
Mike Z finished Nortel exactly as BoD wanted!
end of the story
I tried to protect my family and my friends so they did not lose on NT stock. because they did not buy that stock.
Characters like TongueInCheek paint me as a liar when he was the one to paint rosy pictures of Nortel culture. Check how many excuses he finds today?
That's what I call Nortel's PRopaganda machine still working.
Discredit honest posters, divert public attention and deceive public.
Come clean mr TongueInCheek!
Who are you to lie so much on public blogs?
Who pay you to do that?
We have another example, The psychiatrist /posts above/ That character is converted now.
He got clean many times when the facts showed crooked Nortel managers! He says he was just naive investor. I believe him now.
So who's a$$ you have been protecting Mr TongueInCheek ?
http://disqus.com/people/TongueInCheek/#main
Are you playing golf together with Monty, Dunn, Red Wilson, Manley, B Owens, Mike Z?
How much more proof you want Mr TongueInCheek?
Do you want a proof Mike Z did lie about turn around using false margins?
Oh you know that but diversion is your game!
Btw
Anyone can find that article
Highs, then lows; [Final Edition]
Bert Hill & Vito Pilieci. The Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa, Ont.: Dec 29, 2001.

"BCE Inc. made the biggest splash in the media convergence game by snapping up CTV and The Globe and Mail with hardly a drop of debt. It did it by betting that the price of a huge pile of Nortel Networks stock might fall and made a $4-billion windfall when Nortel stock plunged. BCE is headed by Jean Monty, the Nortel chief executive officer from 1993 to 1997 who groomed John Roth for the top job."

I occasionally feel heartsick when I think of someday wandering the empty campus at, say, Richardson, an endless labyrinth of deserted cubicles.

In every cube are some tangled data cables remaining under desks, a few personal items left behind here and there - Business Made Simple mouse pads, dried whiteboard markers, staples, coffee cups, deep blue Nortel calendars, ERT sign plates, on down to random stacks of confidential documents, floppy discs and even S-tapes in drawers and cabinets under yellowed wall decorations and Nortel propaganda.

The phone closets, labs and subfloors haven't faired much better, littered as they are with dead wires and sundries that no longer lead anywhere, in a hurry or otherwise.

No meetings are scheduled in any of the darkened conference rooms. The water-stained acoustic tiles overhead offer both subtle evidence and metaphor for stubborn failure and neglect.

Outside, the autumn breeze whisks leaves across the parking lot and decks, through the wire-mesh "cage" removed of customers' outdoor metro cells, and across the street to yet more long-abandoned buildings.

The goldfish pond is an opaque green. Weather has long ago exposed the landscape netting installed to hold the steep turf in place between ground the floor and lower park deck. Its there one can see just how much water has literally passed under the bridge by noting that the campus facade's paint edge is easily 3 or more feet above the ground, by now.

I wish I could breathe life into a place like that, again, and be part of that life, nurture it...

The bigger problem was how folks like Manley even got on the board. Most tech companies have a mix or former technology and business leaders. The best have both. Nortel had primarily politicians, former judges and people that were well connected but sat back and did nothing as Nortel collapsed and were handsomely rewarded for it. It makes you wonder if they were in bed with the hedge funds and other institutions that were shorting Nortel over a number of years.

It makes you wonder if they were in bed with the hedge funds and other institutions that were shorting Nortel over a number of years.
===
re

I posted it here many times
Dan posted that too.
Who made $4 bill profit shorting Nortel
answer is, ex Nortel CEO Jean Monty!
That's the Nortel culture, I guess.
another ex CEO, Bill Owens still on Nortel pension was selling Nortel to Huawei.
Now he claims last $2 mill in the BK proceedings.
He thinks he deserves all that $10 mill he got from BoD and he does not accept the fact of losing half a bill on BSNL deal. On top of that he let go COO and CTO Gary&Gary, who had a Plan to restructure company.
Mike Z, another CEO is ready to stub you in the back just to get his last bonus!
I forgot ex CEO Frank Dunn who does not accept his role to cook the books just to get bonuses.
Nortel had to use cash, insurance and stock to settle $2.7 bill law suit.
One of the biggest fraud settlements in history of civilization.
I guess everybody knows that /including EDC/ but no one wants to talk.
There is still $2.5 bill in cash at Nortel.
Who will get it if the creditors are ignored, suppliers are ignored, shareholders tried to start new class actions/ignored, employees ignored...
public/ignored!
BoD is still doing good, cash not shares for them!
Mike Z and team still doing good, cash for bonuses!
Follow the money trial to see the answers.
Who killed Nortel?
Nortel killed Nortel!
BoD and managers killed Nortel!
Judge will accept that too.
There is not a chance for change I guess after all the last public info in the BK court proceedings.

I love the way you are hung up on the two Gary's. Neither had been in telecoms since they left Cisco, one had brought a bar and enjoyed being the 'bouncer' on the door on the weekend.

There were some interesting rumors at the time regarding why it fell apart, some representations were supposedly made the the BOD which precipitated the split, I can only say if the rumors were true you didn't want these guys running Nortel.

I note neither has made any big splash in Telecoms with any other companies since, both returned to retirement i guess?

The outcome would've been the same, then, you conclude. Well, shoot, that brings us back to the inept BoD. Where did it vanish to, again? Who did what to fix it?

Who is stepping up, now, even in Nortel's last moments, to set the record straight about the BoD, and actively hindering anyone in this BoD from running anything else ever again?

Anyone
How much would Manley of been paid to be a BOD over the last five years?

In 2008 he got $215,273 (http://www.nortel.com/corporate/investor/report... pg. 265)

So (not bothering to look at each year - http://www.nortel.com/corporate/investor/sec.html) he has pocketed around $1 million from Nortel.

If Manley were really "manly" he'd get face-to-face with all those screwed by the NT debacle, instead of spouting forth behind the cover of the FP. Tar and feathers, anyone?

Bet that this clown is on the take like the rest of the criminals that are Nortel's "leadership".....At the same time, the foot soldiers are cast aside with little compensation...I bet he is sorry and saddened.....hope he chokes on his caviar and champagne.....grub

The only thing he's sorry about is the easy money he'll be missing for sitting on Nortel's BOD and attending a handful of meetings a year and rubber stamping Z's policies.

This is exactly the problem with Nortel. This guy is supposed to be member of the BOD, a leader of the company. But he talks like a 3rd party with no accountability. Sad.

Manley should resign from the BoDs. It's simply astounding that he's apologizing for helping destroy Nortel, yet is still cashing their cheques for sitting on the Board. I'm assuming he was hired to the BoD because of his political ties. Since the Canadian Gov't has washed it's hands of the whole Nortel mess, his Gov't connections either were not answering his phone calls, or they told him to take a long walk off a short pier.

In the story I disagree that Roth was the last good CEO. Roth spent like a drunken sailor and ran the company into the ground when it should have been building a war chest in a cyclic industry (yes I heard Roth say that this was the "new" economy and the "old" rules didn't apply). Loved Roth's statements of 40% year after year growth (not mathematically feasible). IMHO the last true CEO was Jean Monty.

argee, Roth was in way over his head as CEO.....Monty was the last true Nortel leader

I've got to agree with you there ExNrtl. Roth certainly set Nortel up for the fall. He left Nortel with reserves to weather the upcoming storms.

A few years ago I did a management course. We were split into groups and each group ran a ficticiuos complany than manufactured dishwashers. We got going and all companies initially did well. Sales and profits rose and management congratulated themselves. Some companies installed extra production lines and dishwashers were selling like hot-cakes.
Then something happened. People bought far less dishwashers. A couple of companies were overstretcehd. They had to quickly retrench. They laid off workers and mothballed production lines. One went bust.
That excercise reminds me of what Roth did with optical.

Manley is playing politics. He is trying to act as if he and the employees are all on the same side together. Our pain is his pain. Yeah right. That is pure nonsense.

Employees have been losing benefits and getting fired at the very same time when Manley has been raking in huge bucks. Total contrast.

In today's world the easiest way to avoid personal responsibility for anything is to claim that you are some sort of victim. Even if you are the person who screwed everything up you can still turn the tables by telling everyone how much pain and suffering you are going through.

Manley screws us over and then he wants our sympathy. What a scumbag!

"In today's world the easiest way to avoid personal responsibility for anything is to claim that you are some sort of victim."

Typical Norteller hypocrisy. This whole AAN board is about playing the victim and pointing fingers at they who did this to us.

You all worked there. We've all seen any number of good people kicked to the curb by Nortel, but the ones who remained only became more smugger because they weren't; they were of the chosen. You knew and saw for yourselves exactly what this company was about and what it would do to its employees.

Now it's your turn. Don't expect much sympathy from the ones kicked to the curb before you. You made your bed. Now you can lie in it.

It's a telling story when the Swedes kick the Canadiens asses in hockey and now telecom.....

Like I said. Nortel is the best ran telecom company Canada has to offer....

Ouch, ouch, ... ouch!

The truth stings, don't it?

Actually, Mr.Manley highlights the problem and the reason for Nortel’s demise – Clueless Directors hiring a clueless CEO, who in turn hired clueless ‘World Classers’, all of whom looked out for their interests only.

Net-net: These Totally Clueless Yoyos eliminated ANY and ALL shareholder value while they (very cleverly) found a way to enrich themselves. However, the Directors are not all clueless either; they post public announcements (like this one) stating that ‘they were shocked at the outcome’ thus relieving themselves of any legal wrangling.

Mr. Manley, God help you if you ever visit SoCal - you piece of Canadian $#!T!!!!...-- bb

How very right you are. While they certainly could not a run a company if their lives depended on it, they were good at one thing, ensuring payouts for themselves even as they defrauded investors and employees.

This can be seen in the BoD electing to take cash payments instead of stocks/options after the Ch.11 filing. You cannot get much more shameful than this.

And then at the same time we have Manley playing the victim, claiming he was clueless, shocked, etc. Even if that was true he should be sued for gross negligence.

"Superficially, if you looked at revenue and gross margin and [earnings per share], you would think this company is turning around," Mr. Urlocker says.

Clearly, it wasn't.
======
re
Mr Urlocker
I am not recognized analyst as you are.
You say "superficially it looked good" but it was not the case.
Make your mind, pls. I am not an analyst but it makes no sense what you said.
Was it good?
I saw few smart tricks Mike Z and his team used in his 3 year long game.
Mr Unlocker
Why don't you investigate a bit those "superficial numbers" reported by Mike Z and tell the public the truth?
It is a good thing to do for the public.
I wish some smart analysts will tell the truth one day, why it looked good but it wasn't? That's Nortel I know. Nothing changed for better, right Proto?
Nothing yet....

http://www.financialpost.com/scripts/story.html...

"We have to make sure that regulation is not stupid': John Manley

Mr. Manley said one of his big tasks is to ensure the voice of Canadian business is still heard in an era in which the public sector's foray into the economy is likely to expand.

He said it is natural that the public is looking to government for help, much like it did after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to ensure public safety.

"There is all this public support for government activism and regulatory measures -- especially in the financial services sector. But at the same time we want a vibrant economy in which businesses create jobs," Mr. Manley said.

"I don't' think any one argues there should be no regulation. But at the same time you want to make sure that you do it in an intelligent fashion, and that will be the task -- that we don't saddle ourselves with something that may make some superficial sense, but in the long-run they are going to cost us prosperity."

Mr. Manley is currently senior counsel at McCarthy Tetrault law firm, and sits on the boards of Nortel Networks Corp., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, CAE Inc. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. He said he would retain three of the directorships -- probably not Nortel as that company, under court-supervised bankruptcy protection, looks to sell off its most valuable assets.


______________________________________________________________

Mr. Manley is currently senior counsel at McCarthy Tetrault law firm,

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id...
"3 former Nortel executives charged with fraud"
"In a statement released after the charges were announced, Dunn’s legal counsel, McCarthy Tetrault LLP"

______________________________________________________________



Maybe it's just me... but let me get this straight,

Here's a guy from the Ad-Gate fraud scandal Liberals working for a company that ultimatumed the largest fraud settlement in Canada not negotiating pay practices, they tanked anyway with post settlement revisions they downplayed like their folding, recently traded his options for cash, a stunt not seen since the Frank Dunn era (who his law firm represents without conflict of interest as Nortel defended others they refused to chase even after repeated requests with many still there) while increasing lawsuit insurance to $300M recently (fire selling the farm for while paying bonuses but not severances) and he doesn't want to be regulated, as the head of CEOs, and the Royal Bank praises him (where Currie was from during so many insider only CFOs) as he knocks regulation of all things, ... just when I thought things were getting better.

Will the heads at the OSC be attending the party for his new position?
How about anyone from the EDC?

I can think of no better time for the sheeple to finally stampede out of shear outrage. No wonder Z-Man was smirking at the forced inquiry before torching the farm the very next day, Manley must agree in the very stupidity he cleverly exemplifies for those who felt he was smarter than he looks...crooks are not smart and if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks...well?

Tyranny in the US meets quarter century sentences, here it is rewarded. With any luck the company that fired you can also have a board member's law firm represent you for wrongful dismissal! Why not, he was rewarded with head of the CEOs title after presiding over taking a high tech giant into bankruptcy. How can doubt his advise, as he knocks regulation no longer working counting beans in the public sector that overlooked advertising fraud.

Who runs so many lives? How can we have faith in powers that govern our private sector as the public sector at least improves now, and one he now knocks.

At least our the previous Canadian elite had integrity, not spoiled rotten kids shaped /rewarded to become tyrant robber barons by Loopholes 101 with callous disregard and in positions that should not be taken lightly ...unless it is in Canada of course

Head of CEOS now? against regulation? What a really bad joke in poor taste or what. Is anyone watching this stuff? If they are, do they believe what they see? Pinch me!

I wonder is some of the more prestigious business schools (Duke, Harvard, etc.) will use Nortel as an MBA business case exercise to determine what actions led to its downfall as well as what actions would have corrected the direction the company was going?
It would make interesting reading.

Manley said, adding that he is “personally and deeply saddened by what’s happened. And I am heartsick about the impact on individuals.
re
It's the good type guy; robbing you from all your money and giving you $20 for taxi to go home.
Did he even mention shareholders?
Why should he, right?
There was not enough money for every one, just tens of millions for managers and directors....
Question is why BoD does not work in the best interest of creditors?
Why BoD lets that tool destroy Nortel?
The $1 bill offer up front plus restructuring and emerging from BK by the group “Save Nortel” is more than $1.5 bill Mike would get from fire sale. Isn’t it?

The business strategy issues at Nortel started well before Manley & Zafirovski. At the core, Nortel wanted to be a significant player in numerous technologies across both Carrier and Enterprise. That business model drove both executive and board behavior and decisions to this day.

It's not a surprise that the board rejected Daichendt's proposal to shed the carrier business. It's not a surprise that Zafirovski rejected Broadband Bill's recommendation to shed the Wireless business. Both of those proposals would have meant the end to the dream of being in both camps. This goal simply could not be supported by Nortel's balance sheet, revenues and R&D organizational structures. Nor could a management practice of cost controls lead them to that goal.

If we look at others in this business, none of them have achieved real success in accomplishing the Nortel goals. Siemens split their carrier and enterprise businesses into two different joint ventures. Lucent sold Avaya. Ericsson sold their enterprise voice portfolio. Not even Cisco can claim success, even though they are the closest to it, as their revenues are heavily skewed to enterprise and they lack key solutions in the carrier market place.

An enterprise sale a few years ago, along similar lines as Lucent selling Avaya would have allowed Nortel to focus on their core strengths and heritage in the carrier markets, but all of that is hindsight now.

The Executives dating back to Roth and Dunn and the respective boards simply could not see that a fully integrated carrier and enterprise business was unlikely to achieve great success. Some may call this arrogance, and others will point fingers at all Nortel executives. All of that is fair but the root cause in my opinion is far deeper and part of the vision structures they've had for 10 years and they were unwilling to change.

zafirovski walked into a set of problems. That is for sure. However, instead of making thing better he actually made them even worse.

If someone's car breaks down then they pay a mechanic to fix it. If the mechanic makes mistakes and causes additional damage then he should not be let off the hook!

The really stupid thing is the the board did consult with real mechanics (the Gary's). The told the board - 'yeah your car may appear to be running ok today but it needs some serious repairs or it will not be running much longer'.

The board 'decided' that 'hey that sounds expensive and we don't want the car in the shop'.

So they then took it to a new age healer (MikeZ) and responded 'No no no, I don't even understand those twiddly bits under the hood (the telecom business), heck I can't even change the oil (or understand what oil is or why it would need to be changed), but they are never important. Hire me and for a ridiculous amount I'll polish up the car (LSS) and it'll be better than new'. And that is exactly what he did :(

Not the only thing Z rejected that I (bb) recommended to him (will make for an interesting book soon). What Z didn’t understand (because is a strategic imbecile; after all he is a GE alum), is that Nortel got rid of its access biz; sold it to Zhone few years before Z’s arrival.

Let’s think about this: isn’t wireless yet another access technology? Of course it is! But did Z know what it was? Of course he didn’t! Need BB say any more? He will!..--bb

PS-- Btw, I also remindeded Z that Cisco (at the time) was a player in only two markets - Telco and Enterprise; Linksys was a consumer and NOT a wireless play. Did he get it? Not then; not now – not EVER!! Not part of his DNA.

"The business strategy issues at Nortel started well before Manley & Zafirovski. "
So lets excuse them both and group hug.

While we are at it, lets get attack those even more distanced from the crime scene like Roth...

Lets not talk shop, k...This isn't about the enterprise or carrier sharpy, its about management and ethics, something you have no clue about.

Can't these directors like Manley be sued for breach of fiduciary duties to shareholders?

If they are, they just increased their lawsuit insurance to a whopping $300M while trading options for cash... yet again. Oh ya, and got bonuses approved circumventing creditors.

Who'd believe they'd be hard pressed to find laws against this?

There we go, one of the biggest tools on the BoD trying to play the victim card, when everyone knows he holds much responsibility for the outcome due to his gross negligence and lack of care. Shareholders should sue this guy and the rest of the board for their gross incompetence which directly led to Nortel's downfall.

Remember, this was the guy who decided along with the rest of the BoD to pay millions for an incompetent, arrogant and green CEO who had only his interests and those of his friends in mind, rather than the company's. And don't forget that his law firm is representing Dunn for the pending trial on criminal charges of fraud.

Good commentary Mark, don't let this scumbag loser get away by deceiving others as to his true role in this mess.

DJ,

You missed an adjective in there – clueless; thus your statement should read: incompetent, arrogant, green and CLUELESS CEO….--bb

PS--I realize that my adjective is redundant but needs to be accentuated anyway!

they can never say that because the next thing would be a lawsuit. agree this guy and the rest of the board were as impotent and disinterested on nortel business as much as a 90 year old who even a shot of viagara would not help.

John Manley,

you f***g lousy prick, if you felt sooo sooo bad how come you took cash instead of stock. why not donate all that money to employee severances of pensions that have been cut off.

was f***g easy for you to mouth hot air when you just became chief of the CEO lobby group in Canada.

That's a good point.
That comment not only applies to Manley, the Board, Z or other execs but it also applies to just about everybody in every walk of life. If Manley, Z, the cops, other politicians or whomever ever really came clean and told the truth it would indeed be opening the lawsuit floodgates and in this day and age every tom, dick and harry will launch a lawsuit at the drop of a hat. If you are a new immigrant you don't even have to pay for the lawyer to launch one under the safety umbrella of turdos charter. You just get free legal aid.
Oh Canada!!

Mark, your commentary nailed it.

To offer his condolences and behave as if he had no input in Nortel's endgame exemplifies total ineptitude by the Bored of Directors. His seat could have been filled by Alfred E. Neuman equally well. Just show up to Bored meetings and say "What, me worry?"

This is the most clear evidence to date that the Bored behaved like George Bush Republicans (translated, Paul Martin Liberals). Stay the course and do what the boss says, even when it's a complete tailspin.

Apathetic shareholders combined with a pathetic Bored. Both share the blame.

If Manley wasn't a former Liberal, would the Conservatives have lifted a finger to help Nortel.

Mike and John vintage video from team building events.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8GtPN4tApQ&feat...

John Manley's comments in this article make me so angry.. As a member of the board of directors where the f*** has he been in trying to salvage the situation. He appears to be just complacently letting the current arrogant and inept leader break the company into pieces. John Manley should be using his apparently expert leadership and lobbying skills to seek a Canadian solution to this. Breaking Nortel into pieces is not the right thing for the company, the employees, the shareholders or Canada. How can EDC being providing financing to a foreign company - but not willing to put any more into Nortel itself.

What is unfortunate is that I once actually admired his political skills and could have seen him as prime minister at one point. How silly of me.

John -- you still have a chance to do the right thing. Stand up and show us all what the Nortel board can do about this. Rolling over and playing dead makes you look more of a loser than Z himself.

This is definitely Manley doing damage control. Don't anyone let him get away with it. I will argue that Manley, more than any other director, was in the strongest position to do something about the debacle that transpired.

This makes me mad enough to write to the Financial Post. I encourage everyone else to do the same.

THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT THAT THIS MAN IS....

"GOD'S GIFT TO THE EXISTENSE OF NORTEL" He he he he!

".. IS HEATHSICK ON THE IMPACT ON INDIVIDUALS" YUP!!!

YES, MR. JOHN MANLEY.... IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE READING
THIS POST. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO MY STINKING
RETIREMENT ALLOWANCE, EH ??? AND THE ALLOWANCES FOR
OTHER RETIREES, EH?

You see, we retirees were not rob walking down the streets!!! We
were rob LEGALLY! Thanks to Bankruptcy Protections!

There was $45 million dollars for bonuses alright, but there was no
money for retirees & pensioners who worked and paid taxes for 30yrs
or more !!!



STATEMENTS LIKE THIS TO THE PUBLIC IS A PROOF OF FINAL
EXIT!

Below are the questions a real man or reporter would ask Johnny before allowing any of his quotes to make it the paper. Then again all papers are extreme left wing and trash for the most part, so not so out of place.
Hard to find this type of person in Canuckistan though. The good ones are overseas fighting the terrorists.

“It is a huge loss for Canada and for our Canadian research and development,”

Reporter: Mr Manley...er johnnie....if it such a huge loss where were you and the board and why weren't you pro-active years ago and during executive hiring? Where were you John:???

Manley said, adding that he is “personally and deeply saddened by what’s happened. And I am heartsick about the impact on individuals"
Reporter: Johnny if you are so heartsick why didn't you see this coming?Where were you when damage control took place? Is your middle name Aolf? Do you have a pic of Napoleon on your wall? Who cuts your hair?

"One of the things that always impressed me about Nortel is the loyalty that employees, and former employees, had toward the company. It is a tragedy.”
Reporter: John would that be ONE of TWO things? If you are so impressed with loyalty where is the help from the government? Are they all upset at losing that fifth yearly trip to hawaii and only being able to take four cause they lost on Nortel Stock? I guess that includes you John?

Well said Mark
Manley should keep his big mouth shut. Shareholders were left holding the bag. Manley is a typical politician, he looks after number one first. himself.
Is there any way of finding out how much Manley was compensated for being on Nortels BOD?

even the very terms he uses throughout are reiterations from Nortel... this guy really is as bright as he looks, and we all thought Johnny was a nice boy