September 25, 2007 (LPAC)--The collapse of the Asset Back Commercial Paper market in Canada is now endangering lives. For years this short-term paper, which is now virtually worthless, had been seen as being as good as cash, prompting private companies to hold their cash reserves in this paper. Now that CAN$40 billion has been "converted" to long-term paper, companies cannot sell it. One mining company, Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. almost missed its shipment of provisions, including food, fuel and drilling equipment to its mines which are above the Arctic Circle before the winter arrived, because it held 95% of its cash in ABCPs. Only after it found emergency funding was it able to ship the provisions. Some 25 other major Canadian companies are in the same position.