But Nortel's George Riedel debunked his arguments, saying that 'this is a good deal for Canada'.

Riedel, who is chief strategy officer at Nortel, said the deal involved no transfer of confidential or security-specific technology.

He said before filing for bankruptcy Nortel had approached the Canadian government to bail it out, but to no avail.

Ericsson (Canada) president and CEO Mark Henderson told the MPs that the deal will only advance Canada in the wireless technology industry.

'It will assist Ericsson to keep Canada at the forefront of technological development with respect to next-generation wireless technologies,' Henderson said.

He said Ericsson has operated in Canada since 1953 and the deal is in keeping with the government's goal of 'attracting direct foreign investment in order to increase Canada's productivity'.

Since RIM was eying Nortel's patents to the next-generation wireless technology -- called long-term evolution (LTE) -- which will allow advanced services on cell phones, Nortel has said it is not selling these patents to Ericsson. The Ericsson CEO also clarified this Friday.

'These much-talked-about LTE patents that are being licensed to Ericsson, we're not purchasing them from Nortel. That means that Nortel retains the ownership of the licence, they stay in Canada and they are free to license those to any other company that they choose to do so,' Henderson said.

Whether the government will listen to the BlackBerry maker and cancel the deal remains to be seen.