Carrière Sablière Principale Lachute: from Mareva freeze to RBC's receiver

At 1284 route Principale in Lachute, across five lots in the Argenteuil land registry, two companies ran a stone quarry and a sand pit with, in normal times, at least five employees. 9403-2216 Québec Inc., incorporated in 2019, owns the land. Carrière Sablière Principale Lachute Inc., incorporated in 2023 and wholly owned by 9403, operates the quarry, pays 9403 a monthly rent as KPMG understands the arrangement, and sells to construction and excavation customers that include related companies; Kevin Mainville is 9403's sole shareholder. Stone and sand were only part of the business. According to KPMG Inc., "a significant portion of the Debtors' revenue comes from receiving soil, including soil intended for fill" [translation], per the Proposed Receiver's Report, Sept. 9, 2026, paras. 8–11, 34 and the Receivership Application, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 14–21.

On June 16, 2026, the Superior Court of Québec issued a Mareva and Norwich order with seizure before judgment, ex parte and in camera, in a civil action brought by Valosphère Environnement inc. Sablière's entire sand and stone inventory was seized and the companies lost access to their bank accounts. Royal Bank of Canada, their lender, learned of the order late on June 18, had KPMG appointed interim receiver five days later, and within a week of that appointment KPMG had stopped the quarry. On September 10, 2026, in the commercial division for the District of Terrebonne, file No. 700-11-023321-260, KPMG was appointed receiver under s. 243 of the BIA for a mandate that runs until the property is sold and realized or the court ends it, per the Receivership Application, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 2–5 and the Receivership Order, Sept. 10, 2026, para. 7.

A bank already on its way out

RBC's lending ran through a sister company as well as through the quarry. Under a credit agreement of August 30, 2024, it made available to Excavation National inc. — an excavation, civil engineering and urban development company of which Mr. Mainville is sole director, officer and ultimate beneficiary — a $10,000,000 revolving demand facility, a $1,000,000 leasing line and a $150,000 credit card facility. Under a second agreement of September 4, 2024, it lent 9403 two term loans, of $3,150,000 and $3,000,000. Sablière guaranteed everything Excavation and 9403 owed the bank, up to $35,000,000 per borrower plus interest at prime plus 5%, and 9403 guaranteed Excavation to the same ceiling. Each debtor hypothecated all its movable property for $35,000,000 plus 15%, and 9403 hypothecated the quarry lands for $7,000,000 plus 15%, per the Receivership Application, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 18, 23–29.

On June 23, 2025, the bank told Excavation, 9403, Sablière and Mr. Mainville that it intended to end the relationship and demanded repayment by September 22, 2025, leaving the term loans in place while 9403 stayed current. On or about September 4, 2025, Excavation and 9403 engaged KPMG to review the financial position of Excavation and the two debtors, and an extension letter moved the repayment date to November 14. The debtors waived the ten-day period after s. 244 notices of October 23 and December 3, 2025, and in a support and forbearance agreement concluded December 4 acknowledged the debt, the bank's security and the defaults. Forbearance expired on March 31, 2026. Excavation had filed a notice of intention on December 9, 2025; it went into receivership on June 8, 2026, with KPMG as receiver, and made an assignment in bankruptcy on June 22, per the Receivership Application, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 31–39, 42 and the Proposed Interim Receiver's Report, June 23, 2026, para. 20.

Several of the defaults the bank lists concern the land itself. 9403 had not remedied, within twelve months of signing its credit agreement, environmental damage identified in Phase 1 and Phase 2 assessments by Groupe SCP Environnement Inc. dated April 2024. It had also received a notice dated October 9, 2025 from the Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec (CPTAQ), the province's agricultural land commission, over alleged breaches of s. 26 of the Act respecting the preservation of agricultural land and agricultural activities, and on May 29, 2026 the commission resumed a deliberation it had suspended in February on the strength of undertakings the debtors had given, per the Receivership Application, Sept. 8, 2026, para. 42(a)–(c).

A freeze, under seal

The Mareva order and Valosphère's originating application were filed under seal as exhibits to the bank's first application, and neither is in the record read for this piece. The bank describes the claim in that action as more than $15,000,000, sought solidarily from Excavation and the two debtors, per the Interim Receivership Application, June 22, 2026, paras. 3, 31(h). In July KPMG reported that the Mareva order had been renewed to November 18, 2026 as to entities other than the debtors and Excavation, and that it understood a hearing on the group's challenge would be held only on November 17 and 18, per the Interim Receiver's Report, July 22, 2026, paras. 18, 29.

The bank went first for an interim receiver under s. 47 because of the Civil Code's calendar. It registered its prior notice of a sale under judicial authority on June 29, 2026, and until the 60-day period on 9403's immovable expired, not before August 28, it could not seek a s. 243 receiver over the lands, the debtors' principal asset, per the Extension Application, July 17, 2026, paras. 10–15. Justice Enrico Forlini's order of June 23 appointed KPMG for 30 days, stayed proceedings including the civil action, declared the Mareva order unenforceable against the interim receiver, and granted a $150,000 administration charge and a $300,000 charge securing up to $250,000 of RBC borrowing, per the Interim Receivership Order, June 23, 2026, paras. 7, 9–12, 32, 34, 38. On July 23 the registrar, Me Annick Gagnon, extended the appointment to September 11 after hearing Stéphane De Broux of KPMG; the agricultural land commission and the Attorney General of Québec appeared through counsel, and the debtors were absent and unrepresented, per the Minutes of Hearing, July 23, 2026, pp. 1–3.

What the interim receiver found

KPMG went in on June 23 describing the quarry as an asset valued as a going business and warning that an interruption of operations "would be catastrophic for the creditors and other stakeholders of the Debtors" [translation], per the Proposed Interim Receiver's Report, June 23, 2026, para. 5. Its assessment at appointment, KPMG later explained, rested on financial information from the debtors' representatives showing positive cash flow. Closer analysis found that a significant part of the real cost of operating, salaries and equipment rental, was borne by other companies in the construction group under Mr. Mainville's control, some of which also bought Sablière's products and services, with the accounts settled afterward through intercompany transfers and accounting entries, per the Proposed Receiver's Report, Sept. 9, 2026, paras. 26–28.

Under the Mareva order the interim receiver could use none of those companies' employees or equipment, substitutes hired from third parties would have run the quarry at negative cash flow, and RBC said it would fund "only disbursements of a conservatory nature through its interim financing, and not operating losses" [translation], per the Interim Receiver's Report, July 22, 2026, paras. 28, 30. By September KPMG went further: the debtors' cash flows "did not provide for sufficient revenue to cover the Debtors' operating costs, and this, independently of the Mareva Order" [translation], per the Proposed Receiver's Report, Sept. 9, 2026, para. 30.

At a meeting soon after the appointment, the commission and Québec's environment ministry, the MELCCFP, raised possible soil contamination, unauthorized operation of part of the site, a lack of credibility of certain consultants the debtors had used, and insufficient traceability of incoming fill, alleging that Sablière's traceability protocol did not meet environmental requirements. With soil reception a significant share of revenue, KPMG needed intake controls both regulators would accept, and the debtors' processes for tracing what came onto the site "appeared insufficient, which was confirmed by the CPTAQ" [translation]. Ministry samples taken on June 23, whose results KPMG obtained on July 21, "revealed the presence of moderate contamination and residual materials on the site" [translation], and notices of non-compliance followed in August, per the Proposed Receiver's Report, Sept. 9, 2026, paras. 33–34, 40.

KPMG stopped operations from June 30, 2026, citing the Mareva constraints, the cash position and the environmental and regulatory issues, and hired a security firm for the site, changed the locks and installed surveillance cameras, per the Interim Receiver's Report, July 22, 2026, paras. 23, 35. After KPMG wrote to the commission and met it on July 22 to announce an environmental assessment, the commission agreed to suspend its deliberation until September 25, 2026, a suspension based in part on the halt in operations. KPMG also understands that on August 26, 2026 a partial discontinuance of the Mareva order was granted as to certain group entities, and says it has no information allowing it to conclude that a restart on that footing would generate positive cash flow or cure the defaults to RBC, per the Proposed Receiver's Report, Sept. 9, 2026, paras. 24, 31–32, 37–39.

The balance sheet and the bank's case

KPMG's statutory balance sheet at May 31, 2026, at book value and built on unaudited information from the debtors, carries the quarry and sand pit at $6,300,000 and receivables at $1,662,477, for total assets of $7,962,477. Against them sit RBC's term loan at $5,762,977, the Excavation line of credit guaranteed by 9403 at $7,667,304 and unsecured creditors at $2,074,005, for total liabilities of $15,504,286, per the Proposed Receiver's Report, Sept. 9, 2026, paras. 5–6, 42–45.

RBC's default letter of June 25, 2026 demanded the whole debt by August 24, and it was not paid. The September 8 application under ss. 31 and 243, supported by the solemn declaration of Ronnie Del Papa, the bank's senior director of special loans and advisory services, says the bank holds published security over the universality of the debtors' property, that they are insolvent, and that the notice periods under s. 244 and the Civil Code have run or been waived. A receiver was preferable to the Civil Code's own remedies "in that the BIA offers more tools and flexibility to maximize the recovery of the Property" [translation], per the Receivership Application, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 40–47 and p. 19. No filing by the debtors appears on the docket.

What the September 10 order allows

Registrar Gagnon made the order after hearing counsel and KPMG's representative. It covers all present and future movable property of both debtors and 9403's lands, survives any proposal, CCAA initial order or bankruptcy, stays proceedings against the debtors and their property with the civil file again named, and declares the Mareva order and any renewal unenforceable against the receiver. KPMG may take possession, continue operations, communicate with the commission and with customers, and exercise against third parties the remedies in ss. 95 and 96 of the BIA, the provisions that reach preferences and transfers at undervalue. It may sell outside the ordinary course without court approval "provided that the value of the property in question does not exceed $100,000 per transaction and $250,000 in the aggregate" [translation], and must otherwise return to court once it has a buyer. The order also lets it solicit buyers by public tender or private approach, seek vesting orders, and make an assignment in bankruptcy for the debtors and act as their trustee. Nothing obliges it to take possession of property that may be contaminated, per the Receivership Order, Sept. 10, 2026, p. 2 and paras. 7–14, 21.

A $150,000 administration charge secures, pari passu, the fees of the receiver, the interim receiver and their counsel, and replaces the interim one, which is released. KPMG may borrow up to $225,000 from RBC on terms the bank says are identical to the first facility: 12.5% a year, a $5,000 set-up fee, $1,500 a month for monitoring and the lender's reasonable costs. The first facility's $250,000 is fully drawn and, per the bank, cannot be repaid until the assets are realized, so its $300,000 charge survives in second place, behind the administration charge and ahead of a new $270,000 charge securing both facilities. All three rank ahead of every other hypothec, security and deemed trust, Crown claims included; the lender's claims cannot be compromised in any proposal or bankruptcy, and the order is executory notwithstanding appeal, per the Receivership Order, Sept. 10, 2026, paras. 32, 34–35, 39–40, 44–46, 64 and Annex A and the Receivership Application, Sept. 8, 2026, paras. 71, 74–75.

KPMG's September report, signed by David Malin, CPA, CIRP, LIT, senior vice-president, and Stéphane De Broux, CPA, CIRP, LIT, executive director, states that it is independent of the debtors and their stakeholders and discloses that KPMG LLP provided them assurance services from October 25, 2025 until it resigned on June 22, 2026, without having issued an opinion. As receiver, KPMG intends to develop, in consultation with RBC, a sale and investment solicitation process to realize the assets and, where possible, keep the operations going, with any transaction subject to the court's prior approval; the record holds no process terms or milestones yet. It has retained agronomists Groupe PleineTerre inc. and, under an offer of service dated August 20, Groupe ABS Inc., which expects a preliminary Phase 1 study the week of September 14 and plans field sampling from September 16 to 18, a week before the commission's suspension of its deliberation runs out on September 25, per the Proposed Receiver's Report, Sept. 9, 2026, paras. 39, 48–51.