PRESS DIGEST - Canada - Sept 17

Sept 17 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL:

- Two Canada Revenue Agency bureaucrats siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ottawa's coffers by filing fraudulent tax returns and diverting refunds and related benefit payments to their personal bank accounts.

- The United States will shelve plans to deploy anti-missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, a step that would ease tensions with Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

- The federal government became a coalition of the reluctantly willing Wednesday when the NDP announced it would back the Conservatives in coming confidence votes, suddenly sending the prospects of a fall election from probable to unlikely.

Report on Business Section:

- When Fiat SpA (FIA.MI) took over bankrupt auto maker Chrysler LLC in the summer, Sergio Marchionne knew the Detroit auto maker was grappling with a thin product pipeline. But the Fiat CEO ran into a host of other unforeseen problems that are disrupting Fiat's restructuring plans for Chrysler.

- The Ontario government has threatened Canada's mutual fund industry with a PR offensive against management fees charged to investors, unless fund executives mute their objections to proposed sales tax changes.

- The reopening of initial public offerings on China's stock markets earlier this summer came as a welcome breath of fresh air to the country's eager investors, buoyed by free-lending banks and government plans to spend the country's way back to economic growth.

NATIONAL POST

- A reputed Mafia boss and convicted killer is mounting a constitutional challenge against the use of police allegations by Canada's prison and parole systems, a move that, if successful, would allow inmates to get out of prison earlier and with greater ease.

- First Nations chiefs in northern Manitoba say Health Canada sent an ominous message to their reserves this week when dozens of body bags were included in shipments of medical supplies for H1N1 influenza.

Financial Post section:

- Edward Samuel Rogers emerged as deputy chairman of Rogers Communications Inc (RCIb.TO), with new operational responsibilities as part of a major reorganization announced Wednesday.

- Ottawa will not stand in the way of bankrupt technology giant Nortel Networks Corp's (NRTLQ.PK) $1.13-billion sale of its wireless unit to Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST).

- Deteriorating finances in a recession-battered advertising market and splintering viewership have forced CTV Inc, the largest private television network in the country, to renegotiate certain loan agreements with its lenders.

- The head of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board says the national pension system is in need of reform and Wednesday threw his weight behind proposals to create a supplemental CPP.