Note  4 : Restructuring and Other Items  Employee Departure Program – Bell Canada 2004 Provision for Contract Loss Settlement with MTS Employee Departure Program – Aliant Bell Canada Enterprises  2004 Annual Report 97 Aliant recorded a pre-tax charge of $67 million. Under the plan, 693 employees chose to receive a cash allowance. The program is expected to be completed by the end of 2005. • the orderly disposition of our interest in MTS. Our voting rights in MTS were waived after receiving the • the removal of contractual competitive restrictions to allow Bell Canada and MTS to compete freely with each other, effective June 30, 2004 • a payment of $75 million by MTS to Bell Canada for unwinding various commercial agreements. This set- tlement was recorded in the second quarter of 2004 and received on August 3, 2004. On June 30, 2004, BCE Inc. reached an agreement with MTS to settle the lawsuits. The terms of the set- tlement included: On May 20, 2004, Bell Canada filed a lawsuit against MTS after MTS announced it would purchase Allstream Inc. (Allstream). Bell Canada sought damages and an injunction that would prevent MTS from breaching the terms and conditions of the commercial agree- ments it had with Bell Canada. On June 3, 2004, Bell Canada also filed a lawsuit against Allstream seeking damages related to the same announcement. We also recorded a pre-tax charge of $11 million for relocating employees and closing real estate facilities that are no longer needed because of the employee departure program. We expect to spend approximately $65 million in the future for similar costs that will be expensed as incurred. Almost all of the employees who chose to take advan- tage of the program left Bell Canada in 2004. The rest will leave during 2005. • a departure plan; 1,087 employees chose to receive a special cash allowance. • an early retirement plan; 3,965 employees chose to receive a package that included a cash allowance, immediate pension benefits, an additional guaranteed pension payable up to 65 years of age, career transition services and post-employment benefits In 2004, we recorded a pre-tax charge of $985 million related to the employee departure program that Bell Canada announced in June 2004. The cost was included in the Other Bell Canada segment. The program  consisted of two phases: In 2001, we entered into a contract with the Govern- ment of Alberta to build a next-generation network to bring high-speed Internet and broadband capabilities to rural communities in Alberta. Mechanical construc- tion of the network was completed in December 2004. We identified cost overruns on the construction contract and recorded an additional provision of $128 million in 2004. The table below provides a summary of the costs rec- ognized in 2004, as well as the corresponding liability at December 31, 2004. BELL CONSOLI- CANADA ALIANT DATED Employee departure  program costs 985 67 1,052 Less: Cash payments (194) – (194) Pension and other post- retirement benefits  applied to: Other long-term assets (660) – (660) Other long-term liabilities (11) – (11) Balance in accounts payable  and accrued liabilities at  December 31, 2004 120 67 187 2004 2003 2002 Employee departure programs  (1,063) – (302) Provision for contract loss (128) – – Settlement with MTS 75 – – Write-down of Bell Canada’s  accounts receivable – – (272) Write-off of deferred costs – – (93) Pay equity settlement – – (79) Other charges (108) (14) (22) Restructuring and  other items  (1,224) (14) (768)