Collège LaSalle: back in class, as Quebec signals an appeal

Classes at Collège LaSalle began on September 4, and by September 19 the college held $5,369,000 in cash, per the Third Report of the Monitor, Sept. 22, 2026, paras. 17, 25. Its employees and its landlord were paid in the ordinary course. Early on the afternoon of September 21, the college says, it was told for the first time that the Government of Quebec meant to ask for permission to appeal the order that made that possible, per the Application for an Amended and Restated Initial Order, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 15. The monitor, Restructuration Deloitte inc., records the same notice on the same day, this time from the Attorney General of Quebec, and names the conclusion in its sights: the one ordering the government to pay the college the full 2026-2027 initial allocation without withholding, deduction or set-off, per the Third Report of the Monitor, Sept. 22, 2026, para. 33.

That order, signed by Justice Martin Castonguay on September 3 over the monitor's reservation, was reported here on September 4. The application filed the same Monday seeks what it calls limited measures, and seeks them from a different judge: a stay extension to October 30 and a charge of $1.5 million in favour of the college's directors and officers, presented before Justice Karen Rogers in room 16.04 of the Montréal courthouse at 9:15 a.m. on September 24, per the Application for an Amended and Restated Initial Order, Sept. 21, 2026, paras. 6, 31 and Notice of Presentation, p. 8.

What the September order has paid for

Before the order, the province had already kept two instalments. The July payment of $636,827 and the August payment of $3,184,135 were applied against amounts the government says the college owes or claims from it, per the Application for an Amended and Restated Initial Order, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 4. The September instalment arrived whole. The college then announced to students and staff that it had the liquidity to begin and finish the 2026-2027 year, and its application states that since the order it has the financial resources to meet its obligations in the ordinary course to the end of that year, per the Application for an Amended and Restated Initial Order, Sept. 21, 2026, paras. 5, 9–10.

The monitor's variance table covers the three weeks from August 31 to September 19 against a full month of budget. The ministry's subsidy came in at $1,592,000, on budget. Tuition and registration receipts were $3,650,000 against $5,664,000, a $2.0 million shortfall the monitor treats as timing, since the month was still running. Salaries were $806,000 against $2,876,000, partly because the week of September 25 payroll had not yet fallen and partly because the delayed start cut demand for part-time staff by more than expected. Rent ran $192,000 over on sales tax the college expects to recover, operating costs $863,000 under because invoices had not all arrived and the LCI group had carried some college expenses it had not yet recharged, and professional fees $199,000 over. Closing cash was $627,000 ahead of forecast, per the Third Report of the Monitor, Sept. 22, 2026, paras. 24–26 and Appendix A.

A forecast built on the order holding

The new cash flow statement runs eight weeks from September 20 to November 14, which the monitor describes as the period needed to carry the college to the end of the stay it now seeks. It projects receipts of $6,671,000 — $5,012,000 of fall tuition, one ministry instalment of $1,592,000 in the week ending October 17, and $67,000 of tax refunds — against disbursements of $11,787,000, the largest lines being four payrolls of $1,046,000 each, two rent payments of $1,568,000 and $1,528,000 of shared-services charges from the group. Cash falls from $5,369,000 to $2,488,000 at October 31 and to $253,000 at November 14, per the Third Report of the Monitor, Sept. 22, 2026, para. 27 and Appendix B. The monitor's review found nothing to suggest the assumptions were unreasonable, and it states that on the statement the college expects to meet its current obligations to October 30, per the Third Report of the Monitor, Sept. 22, 2026, paras. 30, 44.

The October instalment is listed in the notes as a probable assumption "sans aucune compensation de la part du MES" [translation: "without any set-off by the MES"], per the Third Report of the Monitor, Sept. 22, 2026, Appendix B, Note D. The report also says what follows if the appeal goes the other way. Should the Attorney General obtain leave and the payment conclusion not be maintained, the monitor writes, "les flux de trésorerie de la Débitrice seront affectés négativement et la continuité des activités du Collège LaSalle ne pourra être maintenue" [translation: "the Debtor's cash flows will be negatively affected and the continuity of Collège LaSalle's operations cannot be maintained"], per the Third Report of the Monitor, Sept. 22, 2026, para. 41.

The monitor also repeats the warning it gave on September 2: that the 2026-2027 initial allocation of $31.8 million is significantly higher than the revised allocation the ministry will fix at year-end, and that the difference will become an additional debt of several million dollars the college's operations as now forecast could not repay. Enrolment will be counted in November 2026 and again at year-end. The college has told the monitor it intends to secure firm donation pledges to cover that shortfall; as of September 22, none had been shared with the monitor, per the Third Report of the Monitor, Sept. 22, 2026, paras. 16, 34–36.

Six weeks for the banks

The college does not say it needs the stay to pay its bills. It asks for October 30 "uniquement" so that the LCI Éducation group can conclude a forbearance agreement with its bank syndicate of Royal Bank of Canada as administrative agent, Bank of Montreal and CIBC — lenders who are not creditors of the college itself — and so that it can continue negotiating with the government over the roughly $30 million in enrolment-cap penalties and the roughly $17 million subsidy recovery for 2025-2026, or else pursue the court challenges already under way. The outcome of those talks, the application says, will be decisive for any plan of arrangement the college eventually puts to its creditors, per the Application for an Amended and Restated Initial Order, Sept. 21, 2026, paras. 8–9, 11, 13–14. In parallel the group is working toward a restructuring plan to be put to the syndicate and its other secured creditors, per the Application for an Amended and Restated Initial Order, Sept. 21, 2026, para. 16.