QM Group: what the monitor proposes for $43.2 million of lien notices

On October 25, 2026, Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc., the monitor in the QM Group's CCAA proceedings, reported that the lien claims process the court set up on the case's first day was nearing completion, and proposed how the money should be shared. The monitor had received 263 lien notices asserting claims of about $43.2 million, four of them after the claims bar date, and it now estimates that proven lien claims will come to between about $18.4 million and $19.0 million, per the Sixth Report of the Monitor, Oct. 25, 2026, paras. 2.1, 4.4, 4.10. Against those claims it proposes a pool of about $1.904 million, which it puts at an illustrative recovery of 10.1% to 10.4%. On a motion returnable October 28, it asks the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) to approve the method that builds that pool and to extend the stay of proceedings, which expires October 30, to April 30, 2027, per the Notice of Motion (Distribution and Stay Extension), Oct. 25, 2026, para. 1 and the Sixth Report, paras. 5.21, 6.1, 7.1.

The largest single addition to that pool comes from a different sale. The monitor proposes to charge the proceeds of the Hamilton waste transfer station, sold on its own, with 17.4% of an interim loan that the buyer of the construction and emergency response business credit-bid in full: about $1.463 million, "with such allocation benefiting the LRO Cash Pool." What would remain of the station's proceeds, an estimated $947,000, would go to Intact Insurance Company, which bonded certain of the group's projects, per the Sixth Report, paras. 4.12, 4.21, 5.4, 5.13, 5.20–5.21.

Forty years of demolition, and a lien order on the first day

The group's origins go back to 1985 and Thomson Metals & Disposal, a metal recycling and technology services company. With three later companies it merged in 2007 to form Quantum Murray, which WeShall Investments Inc. and QM LP acquired in 2016; Highpoint, the second applicant, a demolition and abatement company, was bought in 2022, according to the first affidavit of QM's president and chief executive. By the filing the group offered demolition, remediation, hazardous material abatement, emergency response, waste and soil management and water treatment, with over 400 employees and over $168,000,000 of revenue in 2024, per the Application Record, CEO's affidavit, July 28, 2025, paras. 8, 11, 42–43.

Among the causes the affidavit lists: employee turnover, especially at the management level; deficiencies in internal financial tracking; difficulty pursuing change orders for out-of-scope work; a new enterprise resource planning system in 2024; trouble maintaining bonding support; arrears to suppliers; and holdbacks. Demolition and remediation come early in a project, the affidavit explains, so "the Company is required to wait for a long period until substantial completion, when the holdback is released." The company was in an over-advance position under its credit agreement with The Bank of Nova Scotia, to which it owed about $29,175,000, and it had over $44,600,000 of accounts payable and accrued liabilities at July 14, 2025, per the Application Record, CEO's affidavit, July 28, 2025, paras. 85, 97, 113–114.

On July 29, 2025, QM GP Inc. and Highpoint Environmental Services Inc. obtained an initial order under the CCAA, which extended the stay to four affiliated limited partnerships, among them TWT LP, and appointed A&M as monitor, per the Sixth Report, paras. 1.1–1.2. The same day Justice Steele granted a Lien Regularization Order. It barred anyone from registering, preserving or perfecting a lien, or asserting a trust claim against a payer, on the continuing projects; a claimant instead emailed a lien notice to the monitor and was granted a Lien Charge "equivalent to, and only to the extent of, any security granted under Provincial Lien Legislation," per the Lien Regularization Order, July 29, 2025, paras. 3, 10–11. Among the affidavit's reasons: lien registrations "may disrupt or delay the flow of funds to the Company," per the Application Record, CEO's affidavit, July 28, 2025, para. 178.

The shareholder's credit bid

WeShall, a Toronto-based private equity firm, held 90% of QM GP's common shares and was the interim lender, on a facility of up to $14,000,000 at 14% a year, per the Application Record, CEO's affidavit, July 28, 2025, paras. 17, 146. Five bidders delivered bids by the September 25, 2025 deadline, and none contemplated the purchase or continuation of the continuing projects; WeShall then submitted a back-stop credit bid and, as the monitor sought improvements, agreed to exclude $1 million of cash and the Hamilton station from it, per the Second Report, paras. 5.1–5.2, 5.5–5.7, 5.12.

Justice Cavanagh approved the deal on October 24, 2025 as a related-party transaction under s. 36(4) of the CCAA. "Given that the QM Purchaser acts both as the DIP Lender and the principal shareholder of QM, the SISP contemplated the non-typical procedure of allowing a Back-Stop Credit Bid by an insider, which mandated continuous consultation with the Monitor and BNS," the reasons say. Justice Cavanagh found that it was the only bid that would preserve the company as a going concern, preserving at least 200 jobs, per the Endorsement of Justice Cavanagh, reasons released Nov. 4, 2025, paras. 7–9, 11. The reverse vesting order vacated pre-filing lien claims on the continuing projects and provided that "the sole remedy for such claimants in respect of a Pre-Filing Lien Claim shall be against ResidualCo." It also says that it, and any endorsement, "including its effects on trust claims under the Provincial Lien Legislation against any accounts receivable, shall have no precedential value outside of these CCAA proceedings or beyond the Transactions," per the Approval and Reverse Vesting Order, Oct. 24, 2025, paras. 19, 35.

The station sale to 1001367859 Ontario Inc. closed on October 31, 2025, and WeShall's transaction on November 4, leaving 1001387025 Ontario Inc., ResidualCo, as the only applicant, per the Notice of Motion, Oct. 25, 2026, paras. 7–9. The bank's secured obligations had been assigned to WeShall and retained by the QM vendors on closing, so, the monitor says, neither the bank nor WeShall has a claim to the sale proceeds, per the Sixth Report, para. 4.18 n. 2.

What the review of 263 notices found

Justice Kimmel's endorsement of January 29, 2026 recorded about 195 notices relating to about 70 projects, the claims then estimated at about $20 million pending the monitor's review, per the Endorsement of Justice Kimmel, Jan. 29, 2026, paras. 4–6. By the bar date, February 27, 2026, the monitor held 259 notices on about 79 projects with a face value of about $43.2 million, per the Fourth Report of the Monitor, Apr. 22, 2026, paras. 4.1, 4.4.

The monitor tested each notice against the continuing projects, the provincial lien deadlines, what is lienable and the group's books. It accepted 87 claims as filed, about $11.0 million. It issued 156 notices of revision or disallowance: 128 disallowed a claim in full or revised it to zero because an Intact bond had fully satisfied it, and 28 revised amounts. Nineteen notices of dispute came in, 14 were resolved consensually, and the monitor has accepted those 28 revised claims at about $2.0 million. Intact holds admitted subrogated lien claims of about $5.4 million for payments it made under bonds on 15 continuing projects. The report's table shows 130 admitted at about $18.38 million; five more claims, about $607,000 as filed, remain under review, per the Sixth Report, paras. 4.5–4.9 & n. 1.