Canwest has come to an agreement with its creditors that will see some of its business units enter bankruptcy protection. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

The public got a rare glimpse of the day-to-day finances of Canwest Global Communications Corp. after its court-appointed monitor published a list of debts as the media giant restructures under creditor protection.

The detailed list of nearly 1,000 bills and debts shows that insolvent Canwest owes from a handful of dollars to millions to a long list of companies, including television production houses, taxi firms and a florist.

Some of the bills — consisting mainly of typical corporate expenses for a company that owns dozens of newspapers, the Global TV network, and web properties — go as high as much as several million dollars. Those include debts owed to E! Entertainment Television, Universal Studios Canada and Twentieth Century Fox, which provide the bulk of the company's programming.

Many debts in the filing by court-appointed restructuring monitor FTI Consulting Canada are below $100, with $96.05 owed to Shaver's Flowers in Ontario, and another $13.75 to Guildford Cab in British Columbia.

"It paints a very vivid picture of the day-to-day operations for a company like Canwest," said Carmi Levy, a media analyst at AR Communications Inc.

"Even something as mundane as a $50 bill for graphics … or a small contribution to an interest group, all of these things add up. They shed light on how integral to the local economy a national company like Canwest can be."

Billions in debt

The Winnipeg-based media giant has been unable to pay such operating expenses as it struggles with $4 billion in corporate debt, built up mostly in its acquisition of the former Southam newspaper business once controlled by disgraced publishing baron Conrad Black and the acquisition of Alliance Atlantis' specialty channels in 2007.

This month, Canwest filed for creditor protection for some parts of its business, including its conventional television assets and the National Post Company after it was unable to meet financial covenants associated with its debt. Canwest hopes to restructure its business and emerge from creditor protection by the end of January.

The creditor list also includes money owed to several levels of government, their unions and the press gallery.

Some of the more unusual bills include $25.74 owed to the New Style Barber Shop in Woodbridge, Ont., a debt of $3,180.14 to GoodLife Fitness in North York, Ont., and $651.05 to Miracles in the Marketplace Inc., a religious organization in Plymouth, Minn.

However, most charges were for typical corporate expenses, and pale in comparison to some of the more lavish bills racked up by executives at other struggling corporations.

Nortel Networks' former chief executive Mike Zafirovski was criticized this year for spending thousands to fly in the company's private jet nearly a week after the telecommunications equipment maker filed for bankruptcy protection.

For Canwest, the list includes more mundane office costs like a $128.49 charge from the Eecol electric company in Saskatoon, and $1,820.39 outstanding to Enbridge for a gas bill.

FedEx Canada is owed $6,864.87, and paper shredding company Shred-It International $66.67.

Most owed to broadcasters, studios

A large chunk of what Canwest owes is to American broadcasters like NBC, Fox as well as major Hollywood production houses like MGM Studios.

"It's millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast this stuff in Canada," Levy said.

"The largest outflows of cash are always programming-related and the vast majority of them are American. Unfortunately for Canada, a lot of that money does cross the border."

Canwest spokesman John Douglas said some of the companies on the creditor list have been repaid, most notably Fox television, which had been owed $8.5 million.

"We do have an agreement with them, so there isn't an outstanding claim there whatsoever," Douglas said Sunday.

"On the programming side, we have dealt with all the studios and we have reached terms."

In documents filed this month, the court outlined stipulations that allowed Canwest to continue receiving services deemed essential to its operations, like television programming, while it restructures.

Last week, Canwest's noteholders agreed to give it more time to work on a planned transfer of the National Post to a division that owns the company's other newspapers, including the Montreal Gazette, Edmonton Journal and Ottawa Citizen dailies.

The deadline for transferring the national newspaper to the limited partnership that owns the dailies and other publications was extended to Oct. 30. Although there's been much speculation about the future of Canwest's newspapers, the company has not said they are for sale.