List of defunct Canadian companies

This is a list of defunct Canadian companies.

Defunct companies (including acquired and merged)

Note: many of these companies are still operating under the same name; they are just owned by others.

Aerospace

  • Avro Canada – airplane manufacturer, maker of the Avro Arrow and the Avro Aerocar.
  • Canadair – acquired by Bombardier
  • de Havilland Canada – acquired by Boeing and a few years later acquired by Bombardier
  • Spar Aerospace – split up and acquired by MacDonald Dettwiler, L-3 Communications and Bombardier

Airlines

  • Air Atlantic
  • Air BC – merged with Air Canada Jazz
  • Air Ontario – merged with Air Canada Jazz
  • AllCanada Express
  • Austin Airways – acquired by Air Ontario
  • Canada 3000 – folded, discount airline
  • Canadian Airlines – acquired by Air Canada
  • Canadian Pacific Airlines – acquired by Canadian Airlines
  • Canadian Regional Airlines – merged with Air Canada Jazz
  • Eastern Provincial Airways – acquired by Canadian Pacific Airlines
  • Globemaster Air Cargo
  • Great Lakes Airlines (Canada) – acquired by Air Ontario
  • Greyhound Air
  • Harmony Airways
  • Inter-Canadien
  • Jetsgo
  • Lamb Air
  • Lynx Air
  • Maestro
  • Nationair
  • Nolisair
  • NorOntair
  • North Canada Air – acquired by Time Air
  • Pacific Western Airlines
  • Peace Air
  • Quebecair Express
  • Queen Charlotte Airlines – acquired by Pacific Western Airlines
  • QuikAir
  • Roots Air
  • Royal Aviation – acquired by Canada 3000
  • Sonicblue Airways
  • Southern Frontier Airlines – acquired by Time Air
  • Time Air – acquired by Air Canada Jazz
  • Trans-Provincial Airlines – acquired by Harbour Air
  • Triton Airlines
  • Val Air
  • Vision Airways Corporation
  • Vistajet
  • WardAir – acquired by Canadian Airlines
  • Winnport
  • World-Wide Airways
  • Zip – merged with Air Canada
  • Zoom Airlines

Banking, finance and insurance

Biotech, medical

  • DVS Sciences – acquired by Fluidigm (2014) and changed their name to Standard BioTools (2022)
  • Precision Nanosystems Inc. - acquired by Danaher Corporation (2021), then merged with Cytiva (2023-2024)
  • Kinetek Pharmaceuticals Inc. - acquired by QLT in 2004 for 2.7 M

Computer hardware and software

  • AliasWavefront – developers of industry leading Maya 3D software; in 2006 it was bought out by Autodesk Inc.
  • ATI Technologies – bought out by AMD
  • Ferranti-Packard – early mainframe systems
  • HCR Corporation – early Unix company, acquired by Santa Cruz Operation, later closed
  • I. P. Sharp Associates – time share company
  • Imanet – international trade software
  • Sitebrand – online marketing company
  • Watcom International Corporation – acquired by Sybase

Consumer retail, including grocery

  • Aeropostale Canada – subsidiary of the United States-based retailer Aeropostale, closed all 41 stores in Canada in 2016
  • A&A Records – founded in Toronto at the end of WWII, it was the dominant record chain store in Canada until being superseded by Sam the Record Man in the 1960s; it became defunct in 1993
  • A&B Sound – home electronics retailer based in Richmond, BC; founded in 1959, it had expanded as far as Winnipeg, Manitoba by 2000, but its subsequent decline saw the company go bankrupt by 2008
  • Bata Shoes – shoe retailer and manufacturer
  • Beaver Lumber – hardware/lumber store chain; acquired by Home Hardware
  • Big Lots Canada
  • Dominion – grocery store chain
  • Bi-Way – discount store chain
  • Eaton's – bankrupt, assets acquired by Sears Canada
  • Express – subsidiary of the United States-based clothing retailer Express, closed all 17 stores in Canada in 2017
  • Food City – grocery store chain
  • Granada TV Rental- electronic consumer goods retail rental outlets
  • Hard Rock Cafe -all Canadian Cafe locations closed by 2017 but Hard Rock Casino still exist in Coquitlam, BC, Vancouver, BC, and a new location is set to open in Ottawa in 2021 Hard Rock Cafe still has a location in Niagara Falls, Ontario in Canada.
  • HMV Canada – entertainment media chain owned by Hilco; originally a subsidiary of England-based retailer HMV; closed all stores in April 2017, the majority of locations became Sunrise Records
  • Kmart Canada – subsidiary of US chain, some assets acquired by Zellers
  • Knob Hill Farms – grocery store chain
  • Kresge (Canadian division) – discount store chain
  • Lumberland Building Materials (BC-based store founded in Surrey; it merged with Revy Home Centres in 1997,[2] which then was acquired by Rona in 2001)
  • LW Stores – discount store chain; acquired by Big Lots in 2010 and closed all stores in 2014
  • Marks & Spencer – major British retailer; had operated in Canada since 1973; closed all Canadian operations by 1999[3]
  • Miracle Mart – discount store owned by the Steinberg family
  • Miracle Food Mart – grocery store chain
  • Morgan's – department store chain
  • Pascal – bankrupt in 1991 (Hardware Stores) – 1994 (furniture stores) – 2008 (Pascal Hotel Supplies)
  • RadioShack Canada – renamed The Source by Circuit City in 2005
  • Revelstoke Home Centres Ltd. (aka Revy's or Revy Home Centres; owned by the West Fraser Timber Company, this was a major home improvement retailer headquartered in Revelstoke, BC; merged with Rona in 2001[4])
  • Sam The Record Man – record/entertainment media stores
  • Sam's Club Canada – warehouse store chain and the subsidiary of Walmart Canada; closed in 2009
  • Sears Canada – department store chain and the Canadian subsidiary of the American-based Sears, all stores closed in January 2018
  • Shoprite Catalogue order store, went bankrupt in 1970s.
  • Simpsons – department store chain (AKA Simpson's Sears and Sears Roebuck)
  • Steinberg's – grocery store chain
  • Target Canada – Canadian subsidiary of the American-based department store chain Target Corporation, closed all stores in 2015
  • Thrifty's – denim/clothing store
  • Towers – department store chain
  • Toy City – a toy store chain, a subsidiary of Consumers Distributing
  • Woodward's – department store chain
  • Woolco – discount department store, acquired by Wal-Mart providing an expansion route into the Canadian market
  • Zellers – discount department store; store properties bought by Target Corporation and most converted into Target Canada stores

Food and beverage

Mining and energy

Railways, commuter rail and steamship companies

A-B

  • Algoma Central and Hudson Bay Railway
  • Algoma Central Railway – acquired by Canadian National Railways (CN)
  • BC Rail – now part of CN
  • Belt Line Railway – acquired by CN

C-E

E-G

H-K

M-N

O-P

  • Ontario and Quebec Railway
  • Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway
  • Parry Sound Colonization Railway
  • Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway
  • Prince Edward Island Railway

S-T

  • Sydney and Louisburg Railway
  • Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway
  • Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company
  • Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company
  • Toronto and York Radial Railway
  • Toronto Suburban Railway

A-B

  • Algoma Central and Hudson Bay Railway
  • Algoma Central Railway – acquired by Canadian National Railways (CN)
  • BC Rail – now part of CN
  • Belt Line Railway – acquired by CN

C-E

E-G

H-K

M-N

O-P

  • Ontario and Quebec Railway
  • Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway
  • Parry Sound Colonization Railway
  • Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway
  • Prince Edward Island Railway

S-T

  • Sydney and Louisburg Railway
  • Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway
  • Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway and Light Company
  • Toronto and Scarboro' Electric Railway, Light and Power Company
  • Toronto and York Radial Railway
  • Toronto Suburban Railway

Telecommunications companies

  • Nortel – established in 1895; in 2000 accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)

See also

References

  1. Nexans North America, formerly Canada Wire & Cable, celebrates 100th anniversary 9 February 2011^
  2. Michael McLarney. Hardlines Volume vi, #1 2000-01-10, retrieved 2019-06-06^
  3. Marks & Spencer closing Canadian stores CBC News, 1999-04-28, retrieved 2019-06-06^
  4. Peter Kennedy. Home renovation chains merge The Globe and Mail, 2001-05-15, retrieved 2019-06-06^