They can't do it easily. On Tuesday I think there was a lot of focus on a product called CDS, or credit default swaps. They provide a way for bondholders to insure themselves against loss. The big focus was on Nortel.
The problem is that CDS doesn't exist in Canada. These swaps are very liquid in the U.S. and are frequently used in Europe. Only companies that actually issue a lot of U.S. dollar bonds, such as Nortel, actually have these insurance contracts. Otherwise, in terms of the typical Canadian company, I could count on one hand the number of companies that actually have a CDS product insurance policy available to them, and I'd probably have a couple of fingers left over. It's not a viable solution in the Canadian market.