Bill and Mary Anne Rees incorporated 101825 Alberta Ltd. in April 1977 to provide residential construction services in and around Hanna, Alberta. It traded under the name Big Country Construction and Building Supplies, per First Report of the Proposed Receiver, June 10, 2026, para. 10.
In January 2019 they sold the business to their son. On June 17, 2026, a court appointed a receiver over what was left of it and approved its sale in the same sitting.
The 2019 sale, and the paper behind it
Lane Rees formed Big Country Construction and Building Supplies 2018 Ltd. to buy his parents' assets. The consideration and arrangements around that sale are what put his parents' company in the applicant's chair seven years later:
Loans from 1018 AB to the new company, including a third advance of $150,000 of which $15,000 was repaid — and for which Ms. Rees was unable to locate any formal loan agreement or promissory note. A lease under which the son's company paid $30,000 a year for premises the parents' company owned. A general security agreement dated January 3, 2019 over all present and after-acquired property, securing everything owing including the rent. And a personal guarantee from Lane, per First Report, June 10, 2026, para. 12.
A corporate search from October 2025 shows Lane as sole director, holding 98.8% of the voting shares, with 1.2% in a family trust for himself, his children and their children, per First Report, June 10, 2026, para. 13.
That is an ordinary intergenerational sale, financed by the sellers and secured the way a bank would secure it.
What happened after April 2025
Lane Rees died in April 2025.
The company continued operating without a director, through its existing employees and with limited involvement from Mr. Rees. Eventually the operations wound down and the last employees were terminated with a final payroll, per First Report, June 10, 2026, para. 14.
Mr. Rees has since died as well; the report is drafted around that, recording several things learned from him "prior to his passing", per First Report, June 10, 2026, paras. 16, 21.
A company with no director cannot sell its own assets, cannot grant clean title, and cannot execute the documents needed to do either. That is the problem this receivership solves.
What there is
The books and records are incomplete. On the proposed receiver's understanding, the assets are several vehicles, used workplace and office equipment, and a large number of small-dollar inventory items — described in the report, in a phrase that tells you the scale of the thing, as including "various half opened packages", per First Report, June 10, 2026, para. 16.
The serial-numbered goods registered against the company give the same picture: a 1998 Dodge 1500, a 2003 and a 2008 Dodge 3500, a 1987 Opsco trailer, a 2006 Big Tex trailer, a 1996 Case forklift, and a 2018 GMC Sierra, per First Report, June 10, 2026, para. 21(c).
On the liability side the numbers are equally small, and worth setting out because they explain why this file took the shape it did:
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