Companies

Thursday, April 6, 2017

When to remove

Maintenance templates are not meant to be in articles permanently. Any user without a conflict of interest may remove a maintenance template in any of the following circumstances:

When the issue has been adequately addressed;
Upon determining that the issue has been resolved (perhaps by someone else);
If it reasonably appears that the template did not belong when placed or was added in error. Discussing the matter with the original placer of the template is advised, though if the user is no longer active this becomes moot. In any case, if the issue appears contentious, seek consensus on the talk page;
When there is consensus on the talk page (or elsewhere) as to how to address the flagged issue. (It is best to note the location of the consensus in the edit summary accompanying your removal, ideally with a link to the location);
When it can reasonably be concluded that the template is no longer relevant, such as a {{Current}} template appearing in an article that no longer documents a current event;
If the maintenance template is not fully supported. Some neutrality-related templates, such as {{COI}} (associated with the conflict of interest guideline) and {{POV}} (associated with the neutral point of view policy), strongly recommend the tagging editor to initiate a discussion (generally on the article's talk page), to support the placement of the tag. If the tagging editor failed to do so, or the discussion is dormant, the template can be removed.
Lastly, there are times when a person attempting to address a maintenance template that flags some fundamental matter may find that the issue cannot actually be addressed. For example, if an article is flagged as lacking citations to reliable, secondary sources, written by third-parties to the topic, and a user seeing the maintenance templates discovers that such sources appear not to exist, that usually means the article should be deleted. In such cases, it is not so much that the template does not belong and should be removed, but rather that flagging the page for maintenance will never address the more critical issue that the page itself does not belong on Wikipedia at all.

When not to remove

Shortcuts:

A template should not be removed if any of the following applies:

The issue has not yet been resolved;
There is ongoing activity or discussion related to the template issue;
You do not understand the issues raised by the template;
You simply disagree with the template (seek consensus first);
You have been paid to edit the article or have some other conflict of interest.

Removal

Okay? You have carefully read the help pages and have thoroughly fixed the problem? Alternatively, you have made a considered determination that the template is not, or is no longer, applicable? Good. Thank you!
Now, to remove the maintenance template:

Either click on "edit" or "edit source" at the top of the page, or if the maintenance template is not at the top but somewhere in the body of the article, you might instead use a section edit link;
If you are editing wikitext ("source" editing): Delete the template code. The template code you see in this edit mode will usually be in the following form, as in the example above: {{Name of template|date=Month Year}}. If you are editing using VisualEditor: Click on the template (tag), which will then turn blue. Press the "Delete" key on the template box dialogue which will appear.
Leave a descriptive edit summary, e.g., "Removed [insert the name of template] because I have fixed the issue."
Click Save changes.

That's it.

Changing a template

Problems flagged by some templates may imply secondary problems that will still exist after you take care of the main issue. In such cases, it may be more appropriate to switch the template to another applicable one following your edits, rather than just removing it. If necessary, the reasoning behind the change in templates can be included in the edit summary.
Case in point is the template example used above, {{Unreferenced}}. It is placed on pages with no references. Thus, adding just one suitable reference renders that template no longer applicable. However, that change does not take care of the overarching issue of poor sourcing. In this example, a change to a different template may be appropriate, depending on the type, quality, depth and manner of sourcing added to fix the issue, such as {{refimprove}}, {{No footnotes}}, {{Primary sources}}, or one of the many others listed at Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles.
However, some templates flag highly discrete issues where there is no need to consider another template. For example, if an article is "orphaned" – no other articles in the main article namespace link to it – then once that is taken care of (by the addition of links to it from other articles), the issue is gone entirely and the tag's removal is unambiguous.
In some cases, it may be helpful to request that the editor who did the initial tagging return to the article, and add the section version of the template to the section(s) where problems still exist, or use inline cleanup tags for better clarity.

Specific template guidance

This section provides guidance on how to address some of the more common specific templates that may have brought you to this help page. More detailed information about the templates can be found by following the links to the templates themselves.
Click "show" at the right to display the instructions.

Template:Multiple issues – {{Multiple issues}} [show]

Template:Unreferenced – {{Unreferenced}} [show]

Template:Refimprove – {{Refimprove}} [show]

Template:No footnotes – {{No footnotes}} [show]

Template:Primary sources – {{Primary sources}} [show]

Template:Notability – {{Notability}} [show]

Template:Advert – {{Advert}} [show]

Template:POV – {{POV}} [show]

Template:Lead missing – {{Lead missing}} [show]

Researching the tagged issue

As noted previously, most templates contain links to guidance pages. Additionally, many templates have documentation that provides more information about the template's flagged issue, which is displayed when you visit the template page itself.
To access the template and thereby see its documentation, type into the search field Template:, followed by the name of the template, seen when you view its placement in the Edit interface (typically found in the first lines of the article). The first "parameter" is the name of the template.
For example, if you found this in the Edit interface, {{Unreferenced|date=April 2017}}, then you would visit the template itself by searching for Template:Unreferenced. The accompanying documentation for all maintenance templates, if it exists, can be located in this way.

Still need help?

If you've read through this page and are still confused about what needs to be done to fix an issue on a page and remove a maintenance template, try asking at the Teahouse, a page designed for new users to ask questions. Alternatively, you could try the more general Help desk, or seek live assistance at the IRC channel: #wikipedia-en-help.

Overview

Maintenance templates (or "tags") are never removed automatically. If you fix the issue(s) described in a maintenance template, the tag will remain in the article until you or someone else manually removes it. The mechanics of removal is usually as simple as clicking "Edit" at the top of the page or in the section involved (if you're not already in edit mode), removing the code that produces the display of the template, leaving an edit summary, and saving the page.
It is not okay to remove maintenance templates until the issue flagged by the template is remedied first – that is, only once the maintenance tag is no longer valid, unless it truly did not belong in the first place.
Wikipedia works because of the efforts of volunteers like you, making bold edits to help build this encyclopedia. Fixing problems and then removing maintenance templates when you're done is important in that effort.

Addressing the flagged problem

We don't know which maintenance tag brought you to this page, and thus what specific problem needs attention. However, every maintenance template contains links to help pages, policies, guidelines, or other relevant pages that provide information on the problem the template was placed to flag. You will also find guidance on some of the more common templates below.
Many common templates address problems with article citations and references, or their lack—because reliable sourcing is the lifeblood of Wikipedia articles and at the core of all of Wikipedia's content policies and guidelines, such as notability, verifiability, neutral point of view, and no original research. But a host of other issues may be flagged, including tone and style of writing, structure and formatting, lack of links to other articles or from other articles to the article at issue, compliance with Wikipedia's manual of style and the lack of a lead section.
Making sure that the issue has been fixed is the condition you need to fulfill before removing the template. That does require some effort on your part—to understand both the problem and how to solve it.

An example

If the issue flagged by the maintenance template is that the article contains no references, then the template used might be {{Unreferenced}} – typically placed by the code you would see when wikitext (source) editing: {{Unreferenced|date=April 2017}}.
It is important to understand that what you see when reading an article, and what you see when editing it, is different. Thus, the above code, only seen when doing source editing, results in the display of the 'called' template below:

Example:

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

This template contains a number of links, indicated by the words and phrases in blue. Three of these links are to pages that, when explored, provide context and resources for you to understand why the template was placed on the page, and how to address the issue of the article being unreferenced:

"cite", which links to the content guideline Wikipedia:Citing sources;
"sources", which links to the policy Wikipedia:Verifiability; and
"adding citations to reliable sources", which links to a help page providing a how-to guide to the basics of citing references.

Whatever maintenance tag brought you to this help page should likewise contain relevant explanatory links addressed to whatever its issue is. Read these explanatory and contextual pages to learn about the problem and what it is you need to do to take care of it. Again, some of the more common maintenance templates seen are addressed in the specific template guidance section below.

Kitco Pool Controversy

Kitco offers unallocated precious metals accounts, called "Kitco Pool." Normally, unallocated precious metals account are like "IOU"s and backed by the "general stock" of the dealer. In the event of bankruptcy a pool holder would become an unsecured creditor of the company. Kitco addressed these concerns by stating that the Kitco Pool is 100% backed by physical precious metals, segregated from Kitco's own assets and belonging entirely to Kitco Pool customers.
Starting back in 2007, silver analyst Ted Butler voiced concerns over unallocated accounts including the Kitco Pool.^[9] In March, 2014 a blogger did some investigating and discovered that the Kitco Pool is no longer 100% backed by physical precious metals, not properly segregated from Kitco's own assets ($25 million of the Kitco Pool was seized by Revenue Quebec in June, 2011), and Kitco Pool customers are not considered creditors in the ongoing CCAA proceedings.^[10] Such changes would be acceptable if customers were made aware of them; however, the changes were made surreptitiously. Therefore, some people are investing based on past reassurances without knowing the truth about the Kitco Pool.
Kitco rejects ARQ allegations.^[11]

References

"Articles by Kitco News". Nasdaq.com. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.

Kitco rejects ARQ allegations

Categories:

"GATA". gata.org. Retrieved 15 March 2011.

"Conflict Minerals: Is the Industry Ready?". World News. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2011.

"About Kitco News". Kitco News. Retrieved 15 March 2011.

"Kitco Metals Inc. Restructuring Case".

Van Praet, Nicolas (December 9, 2013). "Kitco Metals among gold traders facing Quebec tax fraud allegations".

http://www.richter.ca/~/media/Files/Insolvency%20Cases/K/Kitco-Metals/CCAA%20Proceedings/Court%20orders/13-Order-8thExtension-contd-20141111.ashx?la=en Missing or empty |title= (help)

20th Monitor Report

Butler, Ted. "Buyer Beware".

"Changes in Kitco Pool Safety".

History

In the late 1970s, college student Bart Kitner started trading scrap gold using a $700 loan.^{[citation needed]} He refined and sold the resultant pure gold grain on to bigger players. Eventually, he was able to expand his business into other industrial areas and, by the late 1990s, into precious metals products.
In 1995 the website Kitco.com was launched, providing market information, such as prices, trends and news.
Today, Kitco occupies more than two floors of a Montreal office building and two other offices in New York and Hong Kong.

Kitco News

Kitco News is the journalistic division of Kitco, reporting using articles^[1] and videos. Original coverage by Kitco News includes being one of the first organizations to break the story about the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee's (GATA) lawsuit against the Federal Reserve, as well as focus pieces on issues such as conflict minerals in the Congo.^[2]^[3] In addition to this, Kitco News reports on price movements within the precious and base metals markets, and provides both fundamental and technical analyses.^[4]
Kitco has been featured and quoted in major American, Canadian and international publications.^{[citation needed]}

Tax Issues and Creditor Protection

Among Kitco’s lines of business is the purchase of scrap precious metals. Kitco pays its suppliers sales taxes on these purchases and receives tax credits for the corresponding amounts. Alleging that some of these suppliers have not paid back the taxes owed to it, Revenue Quebec is holding Kitco responsible for these unremitted taxes.^[5] Revenue Quebec's issuance of assessments for these taxes has forced Kitco to file for creditor protection.^[6] Kitco strongly contests these assessments.
On June 8, 2011, the day after Revenue Quebec raided Kitco's headquarters, Kitco was granted CCAA creditor protection by the courts (similar to U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection). On November 6, 2014, the CCAA protection was extended again to June 18, 2015.^[7] The CCAA protection allows Kitco to continue under its existing management, with Richter acting as a Monitor. Around May, 2014 Kitco paid the majority of creditors in full, with others receiving partial payments (except Revenue Quebec).^[8]

Comparison of CCAA with other bankruptcy protection proceedings

The CCAA has been described as being similar in nature to Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States and to administration proceedings and company voluntary arrangements ("CVAs") in the United Kingdom. Differences between the various proceedings include the following highlights:

Action	CCAA (Canada)	Chapter 11 (US)^[59]^[60]	Administration (UK)^[61]	CVA (UK)^[62]
Applicable to	Insolvent companies (or affiliated groups) with debts greater than $5 million	Any debtor	Any company that is or is likely to become unable to pay its debts	Any company, whether insolvent or not
Initiated by	Insolvent company (or creditor), upon application to the court	Insolvent person, upon application to the court	Company, its directors, or a holder of a floating charge (either unilaterally or on application to the court), or any other creditor (on application to the court)	The directors of a company
Scope of plan	Within the court's discretion	As prescribed by law	As proposed by the administrator and approved at a meeting of the company's creditors	As proposed by the directors and approved at meetings of the company and of its creditors, and then approved by the court
Stay of proceedings	Upon order of the court	Automatic upon filing	May be lifted in specific cases with consent of administrator or permission of the court	If requested by the directors to the court
Debtor-in-possession financing	Allowed	Allowed	Not available	Not available

Notable CCAA proceedings

Relevant cases

Reference re constitutional validity of the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act 1934 CanLII 72, [1934] SCR 659 (6 June 1934)
Century Services Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General) 2010 SCC 60, [2010] 3 SCR 379 (16 December 2010)
Sun Indalex Finance, LLC v. United Steelworkers 2013 SCC 6 (1 February 2013)
Newfoundland and Labrador v. AbitibiBowater Inc. 2012 SCC 67 (7 December 2012)

Scope

In addition, the court has broad discretion in administering any other issues that may arise.^[37] As the Act says,

“

...the court, on the application of any person interested in the matter, may ... make any order that it considers appropriate in the circumstances.^[4]

”

This has allowed for very creative applications for resolving difficult scenarios, including:

the packaging and orderly resolution of holdings of asset-backed commercial paper by multiple investors, which can include the release of claims against third parties who are themselves solvent and not creditors of the debtor company^[38]^[39]^[40]
dealing with limited partnerships managed by an insolvent general partner^[41]
arranging for disposal of the company through a stalking horse offer^[42]
providing a more effective way for arranging merger and acquisition transactions involving distressed companies^[43]
administering the liquidation of the company^[44]
declining to approve restructuring plans, either because they are poorly conceived^[45]^[46] or contrary to the best interests of the parties concerned^[47]

Stability during proceedings

In order to assure that the company's operations will continue during the proceedings, the court has power to declare that the assets of the company are subject to a security or charge with respect to certain matters, and may further order that such charges rank ahead of those of secured creditors. They include:

arrangements similar to debtor-in-possession financing for sustaining the company's operations^[48]^[49] (also known as a "DIP charge")
payments to specified suppliers for continuing to provide goods or services that are critical to the company's operation^[50]
indemnification for directors and officers for actions done after the commencement of proceedings, where appropriate insurance coverage is not in effect.^[51]
security (known as an "administration charge") for fees and expenses of the monitor and any other specified financial, legal or other experts.^[52]

This "super priority" status is construed broadly, and has been held to even defeat statutory deemed trusts (such as those concerning pension plan deficiencies and vacation pay that exist in Ontario),^[53]^[54] as well as in rem claims such as maritime liens that are found in maritime law.^[55]

Other powers

The court may also order:

the removal of directors if they are unreasonably impairing (or likely to unreasonably impair) the possibility of a viable compromise or arrangement being made in respect of the company, or are acting (or likely to act) inappropriately as a director in the circumstances.^[56]
recovery of amounts arising from fraudulent preferences and undervalue transactions^[57]
the coordination of its proceedings with corresponding foreign proceedings^[58]

Powers of the court

Any interested person may apply to the court for an order under the Act.^[4] This is normally the debtor company, but a creditor can also do so.^[23] The court having jurisdiction is the superior court for the province in which the company's head office or chief place of business in Canada, or, in the absence of that, where any of its assets are situated.^[24]
When the application is made, the court is required to appoint a monitor with respect to the business and financial affairs of the company, who must be a trustee in bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.^[25] The monitor is required to investigate and report back to the court on the company, advise the court with respect to any actions that need to be taken, and to carry out any other functions in relation to the company that the court may direct.^[26]
Where a compromise or arrangement has already been negotiated with the secured^[27] or unsecured^[28] creditors — essentially creating a pre-packaged insolvency — the court may summarily order that it proceed to be voted on by each class of creditors concerned, and, where necessary, by the shareholders as well. Whether a creditor is secured or unsecured is governed by the BIA.^[29]
However, the court is not bound to accept an application under the Act, and it can terminate previously granted orders (and even declare them to have been void ab initio) where an applicant has not made full and fair disclosure of all material facts.^[30] Where a petition for CCAA relief appears to be more like a defensive tactic than a bona fide attempt to restructure, it may prefer to order receivership instead.^[31]

Stay of proceedings

Where no such compromise or arrangement has been negotiated, the court, on application, may issue an order, lasting for 30 days,

staying,
restraining from continuing, or
prohibiting from commencing,

any proceedings against the debtor company, while negotiations are held to secure a compromise or arrangement with creditors and shareholders. The court may extend the protection for any period it sees fit.^[32] A stay may be lifted upon application to the court, but only in very restricted circumstances:

it will be difficult for a secured party to obtain relief where the effect of doing so would be to prevent the debtor from continuing to carry on business^[33]
however, lifting a stay may be more possible in a liquidating CCAA proceeding, having regard for the need to balance stakeholder interests^[34]

Provision is made for such stays not affecting investigations undertaken by any regulatory body (other than with respect to any payment that may be ordered), but the court can order the cancellation of such exemption where:

a viable compromise or arrangement could not otherwise be made in respect of the company, and
it is not contrary to the public interest that the regulatory body be affected by such order^[35]

However, as noted in Newfoundland and Labrador v. AbitibiBowater Inc., not all payments required under regulatory orders constitute claims under the CCAA and are thus subject to stay. Subsequent jurisprudence suggests that determining the status of such orders will be case-specific.^[36]