Pacific Process: interim fees while four creditors pursue a $10.6 million claim

On October 29, McLennan Ross LLP told the creditors of Pacific Process Canada Ltd., on behalf of MNP Ltd., the company's trustee in bankruptcy, that MNP intends to seek an order from the Registrar in Bankruptcy approving and certifying its own fees and its counsel's, and approving them as interim remuneration. MNP's account is for $42,237.42, covering November 19, 2025 to September 10, 2026; McLennan Ross's is for $15,160.60, covering May 27 to October 16, 2026; both include GST. Creditors have until November 12 to send comments to the trustee's counsel, and the trustee will submit its requisition "for approval by the Court on November 13, 2026," the letter says, per the Notice to creditors, Oct. 29, 2026, p. 1 and the MNP affidavit, Oct. 20, 2026, paras. 8, 11.

The reason for asking now is in the affidavit enclosed with the notice, sworn on October 20 by the MNP senior vice-president who has had conduct of the estate. "All other administrative steps arising in this bankruptcy have been concluded," it says. What is left is litigation that four creditors are pursuing in their own names under s. 38 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, which "is ongoing and it is uncertain when it will conclude. As a result, the administration of the estate may continue for a considerable period." Deferring payment to the end "would impose a significant financial burden on the Trustee and Trustee's Counsel," and the trustee's remuneration stays subject to final taxation when the administration concludes, per the MNP affidavit, Oct. 20, 2026, paras. 6, 13.

A milk plant at Blackfalds

Pacific Process Canada was incorporated in British Columbia on October 28, 2016 and registered to carry on business in Alberta. MNP's report to creditors places it in "the construction management and project delivery sector" and says it "was involved in the development of Dairy Innovation West, a milk concentration facility located in Blackfalds, Alberta," per the Trustee's Report to Creditors, Mar. 16, 2026, p. 1. The company's own statement of claim says that on or about July 5, 2023 it entered into a CCDC 5B contract with DIW Buildings & Land Corporation for the construction of a milk concentration facility on land DIW owns, and that an amending agreement of about July 14, 2025 set the price for the services and work at "a guaranteed maximum price of $78,600,000, subject to further adjustment." The company issued a certificate of substantial performance on August 22, 2025, which, the claim says, was later revised at DIW's request, per the Statement of Claim (Alta. K.B. No. 2603 01445), Jan. 20, 2026, paras. 3, 5–6, 9–10.

The trustee's summary of the company's statements, which it says management prepared and no independent accountant reviewed, shows revenue of $13,891,000 and a net profit of $748,000 for the year to March 31, 2024, then revenue of $54,384,000 against cost of sales of $56,114,000 and a net loss of $2,559,000 for the year to March 31, 2025. At February 20, 2026 the balance sheet carried $6,293,000 of accounts receivable against $13,498,000 of accounts payable, and shareholder's equity of negative $7,218,000, per the Trustee's Report to Creditors, Mar. 16, 2026, pp. 2–3.

"We understand the Company generally ceased operations in December 2025," the trustee wrote. All employees were terminated before the bankruptcy, and the report records no salaries, wages, vacation pay or severance owing to them. It attributes the failure to "ongoing financial difficulties and disputes relating to amounts allegedly owing under a construction contract," which left the company unable to meet its obligations as they came due. On February 24, 2026 the company made an assignment in bankruptcy, and MNP was appointed trustee the same day, per the Trustee's Report to Creditors, Mar. 16, 2026, pp. 1, 3 and the Certificate of Appointment, Feb. 24, 2026.

What the company says DIW owes

On January 20, 2026, Pacific Process Canada sued DIW in the Court of King's Bench of Alberta at Edmonton. Its statement of claim pleads that DIW "has refused or otherwise failed to pay" $6,132,595.89 of unpaid progress amounts and unreleased statutory and contractual holdback, and a further $4,513,284.66 for additional services and work that it says DIW requested and required, each figure including GST and exchange-rate adjustments, and that DIW "is truly and justly liable" for "at least the aggregate amount of $10,645,880.55." It pleads quantum meruit in the alternative, and unjust enrichment further or in the alternative. It asks for judgment, a declaration that its lien is valid and, in default of payment, an order that the land be sold, per the Statement of Claim (Alta. K.B. No. 2603 01445), Jan. 20, 2026, paras. 11–16, 19–21.

The lien came first: on October 21, 2025 the company registered a builders' lien under Alberta's Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act against the 3.92-hectare lot for $10,684,412.56, which the four creditors' affidavit in the s. 38 application describes as "being the same underlying debt" as the claim, per the Applicants' affidavit, May 13, 2026, para. 9 and Ex. "C". These are the company's allegations, made in a pleading and a statement of lien, and nothing in the record decides them. No statement of defence or other pleading by DIW is among the filings in this bankruptcy; arguments raised against the claim on DIW's side reach the record second-hand, in a reply from the lawyers who filed the company's claim.

The trustee understands that the company and other creditors registered liens against the DIW lands, that funds have been paid into court under the Act, and that a prior order obliged the lienholders to set a process for proving liens and entitlement to the lien fund, with Gowlings LLP appointed as carriage counsel and first affidavits proving liens due March 13, 2026. One creditor, Walker Stainless Equipment Company LLC, which registered a purchase-money security interest in certain silos, filed a secured claim of $1,819,000 whose security the trustee had not yet reviewed; the trustee "understands Walker's claim is included in the Company's claim against DIW Buildings & Land Corporation," per the Trustee's Report to Creditors, Mar. 16, 2026, pp. 5, 8.

The trustee steps aside

MNP's March 16 report counts approximately 51 potential unsecured creditors owed approximately $13,485,860. The five largest on the company's records are Pivot Systems, at an estimated $4,580,000; Walker Stainless, $1,510,000; Tetra Pak Canada Inc, $1,138,000; JTI Electrical and Instrumentation, LLC, $1,025,000; and FRC Systems International, $1,008,000. The trustee's estimate of realizable value lists the DIW receivable, carried at $6,171,000 on the statement of affairs, as "Unknown"; its collectability, the report says, "depends on the outcome of the litigation proceedings." It estimated a recovery to unsecured creditors of between $32,000 and $244,000, adding that "This recovery could substantially increase, depending on the outcome of the DIW proceedings," per the Trustee's Report to Creditors, Mar. 16, 2026, pp. 5–6, 9.

"Given the lack of funding and resources available in the bankrupt estate, the Trustee does not intend to continue or pursue the litigation on behalf of the estate, subject to discussion with the inspector(s), if applicable," the report says, and it understood that "a related creditor to the Company intends to apply" under s. 38, per the Trustee's Report to Creditors, Mar. 16, 2026, p. 8. No inspectors were appointed at the first meeting of creditors, held on March 16, per the MNP affidavit, Oct. 20, 2026, para. 4. At the meeting, the applicants' affidavit says, MNP confirmed that it did not intend to pursue the claim for lack of funds and did not oppose a s. 38 application. The next morning an MNP manager put it in writing: "Given the limited resources of the estate, the Trustee does not intend to pursue the statement of claim or the lien enforcement proceedings," per the Applicants' affidavit, May 13, 2026, para. 14 and Ex. "E".