BlackBerry to close Bedford office and cut 350 jobs

BlackBerry is shutting down its Bedford, N.S., office, affecting at least 350 workers as part of the beleaguered Ontario-based tech company'sglobal layoffs.

BlackBerry says its Bedford, N.S., office, which offers customer service, will close Jan. 10.

The company says35 employees will be offered positions to work at home and remain with the company.

The company was lured to NovaScotiain 2005 by a previous Progressive Conservative government.TheBedfordlocation opened on Nov. 25, 2008.

The province offered $19million in subsidies, including $14million in payroll rebates and $5million for training and recruitment. The company was told it had to create 1,200 jobs over five years to get the full rebate.

BlackBerrydrew almost $11million from the payroll rebate program over a six-year period ending in February 2012, NovaScotiaBusiness Inc. has said.

The Nova Scotiagovernment announced it would give BlackBerry $10 million over five years to create a Centre of Excellence and guarantee at least 400 jobs in the province at an average salary of at least $60,000 a year.

It's not known exactly how much of that money the company has received, but BlackBerry said Thursday it is paying back a $2million contribution.

Government back and forth

Im confident the current government knew this was coming and would have been prepared for this day, said MLA Kelly Regan.

Regan will represent Bedford in the Nova Scotia legislature when the Liberal candidate is once again sworn in.

Premier-designate Stephen McNeil said he understands the outgoing government might be offeringservices for the laid-off workers.

But when questioned, a spokesperson from Darrell Dexters office said, "I suggest you get in touch with someone from the premier-elect's communication team.

"They are still the government and I would have expected them to act accordingly, like grownups, right? saidRegan.

"The fact of the matter is if they don't do what they're supposed to do, we will."

Regan said she hasbeen making calls and sending emails to existing high-tech firms in the area to see if they might have jobs available for the oustedBlackBerry employees.

Local marketing company SimplyCast tweetedit has job openings.

More cuts coming

The Nova Scotia layoffsare the latest in a string of cost-cutting measures within BlackBerry.

The struggling company, based in Waterloo, announced in September itis cutting 4,500 employees across its global operations.

The losses will affect 40 per cent of its staff, leaving about 7,000 employees.

On Tuesday, BlackBerrysaid it's laying off 300 people in its Waterloo office.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. has made an offer to buy BlackBerry for $4.7billion, although there are doubts the deal will go through.

Looking for rival bids

BlackBerryis known to be soliciting rival bids in the meantime, with companies such as SAP AG, Cisco Systems and Samsung Electronics reported to have approached its advisers.

However, the tech titans are likely interested only in pieces of the company, Bloombergreported, adding that BlackBerry company management is becoming more open to a breakup of the company.

The federal governments move to quash a deal by Egyptian firm Accelero to take over MTS-Allstream may have bidders thinking twice about investing in Canada.

The government nixed the deal over "national security concerns"but gave no further explanation.

Treasury Board President Tony Clementsaid Oct. 8 that national security would play a role in assessing offers for BlackBerry as well.