Cash Today: full powers, three bankruptcies and a freeze to November 27

Over two sittings four days apart, Justice Bourque of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta turned Cash Today Inc.'s monitoring receivership into a full one. On October 16, on the application of Grow Capital Two Inc. (GC2), administrator of a loan made to the Edmonton consumer lender by a group of lenders, the court gave MNP Ltd. a receiver's full powers and extended the receivership to Cash Today's two guarantors and to 1549932 Alberta Ltd.; Cash Today and both guarantors were adjudged bankrupt that day, per the Amended and Restated Receivership Order, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 4–7 and that day's bankruptcy orders for Cash Today, 2327624 Alberta and 2327619 Alberta. On October 20, at a sitting booked for an "Oral Decision," the court froze until 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time on November 27 the property of 14 corporations, three individuals and an estate that the order defines as related parties, restraining each from "dealing with, transferring, mortgaging, charging, using, disposing of, creating an interest in or doing anything to" its exigible property, "whether located in Alberta or elsewhere," per the Second Amended and Restated Receivership Order, Oct. 20, 2026, paras. 11, 18 and the court scheduling notice, Oct. 19, 2026.

The individuals are Cash Today's former director and two others; the estate is that of its other director, per the First Report of MNP Ltd., Oct. 13, 2026, paras. 8–10 and GC2's bankruptcy application (Cash Today), Oct. 13, 2026, para. 1(e). Ten respondents appearing through Duncan Craig LLP, the former director, 1549932 Alberta and the guarantor 2327624 Alberta Ltd. among them, did not oppose the expanded powers, the receivership of 1549932 Alberta or the bankruptcies of Cash Today and 2327624. They asked that the freeze, and the paragraphs that would have made the related parties produce their records, be adjourned so that GC2's affiant could first be cross-examined, per the Brief of Law of the Respondents, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 1, 3, 24. The order pronounced on October 20 contains the freeze. Two of the records paragraphs now read, in full, "Intentionally omitted," per the Second A&R Order, Oct. 20, 2026, paras. 12, 14.

When this case was last reported here, on October 15, the application had not been heard. No written reasons for either sitting are in the record read for this piece.

The receiver's powers, and three more debtors

The October 16 order amends and restates Justice Dunlop's consent order of August 18, under which MNP had "only the powers set out in paragraph 5" and could not take possession without a further order. MNP may now take possession of the property, carry on the business or stop it, collect what is owed, sell assets out of the ordinary course (without approval up to $25,000 a transaction and $100,000 in all), and assign any of the debtors into bankruptcy and act as trustee, "to the exclusion of all other Persons, including the Debtors," per the Receivership Order, Aug. 18, 2026, para. 2 and the A&R Order, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 1, 7.

Cash Today's receivership rests on s. 243(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and s. 13(2) of Alberta's Judicature Act; the three new ones rest on s. 13(2) alone. They cover the guarantors, 2327619 Alberta Ltd. and 2327624 Alberta, including their shares in Cash Today, and 1549932 Alberta, including its shares in Western Commercial Finance Ltd. The four companies are now "the Debtors," per the A&R Order, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 4–6.

The Bank of Montreal, Global Payments Canada GP and any other bank or payment processor with notice must disclose any account held by or for the debtors, "including any account to which payments made by the Debtors' borrowers were settled," with its transactions from January 1, 2020. Two individuals the order names have five days after service to hand over access codes for the debtors' loan management software and email and to say where the loan files and collateral are, in each case to the extent within their knowledge or control. The funds in 1549932 Alberta's three Bank of Montreal accounts, one in US dollars, are held pending a further order, per the A&R Order, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 11–13.

The receiver's charge for its and its counsel's fees, a first charge on the property, and its borrowings charge were each capped at $150,000 in August; each cap is now $800,000, per the Receivership Order, Aug. 18, 2026, paras. 16, 19 and the A&R Order, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 25, 28. GC2 has leave to amend its statement of claim to add 12 defendants: 1549932 Alberta, seven other corporations, three individuals and the estate, per the A&R Order, Oct. 16, 2026, para. 3.

Three bankruptcies, and an examination set after the affiant's

The bankruptcy order against 2327624 Alberta recites that it appeared to the court the company had committed an act of bankruptcy in the six months before GC2 applied, "namely that the Bankrupt has ceased to meet its liabilities generally as they become due." It was adjudged bankrupt on October 16, with MNP as trustee, per the Bankruptcy Order (2327624 Alberta Ltd.), Oct. 16, 2026, recitals and paras. 2–3. Cash Today's own order of that day rests on the same recital, and the amended order of October 20 records, on the same recital, that Cash Today was adjudged bankrupt "by virtue of the Original Order, made on October 16, 2026," and that the date of the bankruptcy "remains October 16, 2026," per the Amended and Restated Bankruptcy Order (Cash Today Inc.), Oct. 20, 2026, recitals and paras. 1, 3–4. The respondents did not object to either bankruptcy "despite procedural irregularities," per the Respondents' Brief, Oct. 16, 2026, para. 3(c).

GC2's letter to the court that day said it would proceed on all three of its bankruptcy applications, including the one against the other guarantor, 2327619 Alberta Ltd., which to GC2's knowledge was not represented, per the GC2 letter, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 2, 4. The court granted it: 2327619 Alberta was adjudged bankrupt on the same recital, with MNP as trustee, per its Bankruptcy Order, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 2–3.

The amended orders of October 20 for Cash Today and 2327624 Alberta contain what 2327624 Alberta's original order did not. The former director must attend an examination under oath by GC2 on a date to be agreed that is after October 22, which the orders give as the date scheduled for the questioning of GC2's affiant, and no later than November 13, delivering any books and papers in the former director's possession or power relating to the bankrupt company at least five days before, per the A&R Bankruptcy Order (Cash Today), Oct. 20, 2026, paras. 7–8 and the A&R Bankruptcy Order (2327624 Alberta Ltd.), Oct. 20, 2026, paras. 7–8. GC2 had asked that the examination take place by October 30, per its bankruptcy application (Cash Today), para. 1(e). The respondents opposed it "for investigative purposes until, the application for this relief has been fully heard," per the Respondents' Brief, Oct. 16, 2026, para. 5. GC2's letter told the court that counsel had agreed in principle on a schedule to the comeback hearing, beginning with that questioning on October 22, per the GC2 letter, Oct. 16, 2026, para. 5.

What the respondents asked for

The respondents' brief begins with time. They had "just retained counsel" after the materials were served late on October 13, it says, and "Time has not permitted a thorough review of the evidence." Granting the relief before they could cross-examine, it argues, "will effectively deny the Respondents natural justice and due process." They had asked GC2 the day before to allow cross-examination on a proposed litigation timeline, and GC2, the brief says, refused, per the Respondents' Brief, Oct. 16, 2026, paras. 2, 4, 8, 10.