Victoria Strong: the landlord who asked for a receiver

Victoria Strong Manufacturing Corp. made doors and trim, crown mouldings among it, mostly to order for houses and condominiums, and customers customarily collected an order only when the house was ready for it. Its failure, the landlord's first affidavit says, had "an immediate, direct and dire impact on the families anxiously awaiting completion of their homes." Several customers who said they had paid called that landlord, TL Classic Holdings Inc., asking for their orders; TL Classic said it was prepared to release products to customers who provided evidence of payment, per the First Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, July 21, 2025, paras. 27–30.

TL Classic owns 2463 Royal Windsor Drive, Unit 3, in Mississauga and leased it to Victoria Strong under a lease dated October 15, 2014; the tenant had agreed to expand from 23,648 to 30,197 square feet at $25,591.96 a month from November 1, 2023, per the Supplementary Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, Oct. 4, 2025, para. 20. By October 15, 2024, the lease's termination date, rent arrears exceeded $141,295.36. The landlord let the company stay to November 15 without charging interest on the arrears; Victoria Strong had neither vacated nor paid them by that date. On December 9 TL Classic issued a notice of distraint, and that same day, the affidavit says, five representatives of S Bend Welding Inc. arrived unannounced to collect what they said S Bend had bought: substantially all of Victoria Strong's moulding equipment and certain other property, per the First Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, July 21, 2025, paras. 7–12, 15.

Victoria Strong ceased operations there on December 9, 2024, leaving its equipment, vehicles and inventory behind. "Through no fault of its own, TL Classic finds itself as the de facto custodian" of all of it, Tony Capobianco Jr., a property manager on TL Classic's management team, swore on January 29, 2026, supporting an application to appoint Grant Thornton Limited as receiver, per his Third Affidavit of Tony Capobianco Jr., Jan. 29, 2026, paras. 1–5. The court appointed Grant Thornton on February 4. On April 24 the receiver filed its factum for one motion seeking approval of two auction sales, a seal on their prices and its own discharge, per the Factum of the Receiver, Apr. 24, 2026, paras. 1, 3.

Buyers, lessors and a bank at the door

On March 10, 2025, S Bend produced documents it says support its purchase: a screenshot of a $15,000 transfer to Victoria Strong dated November 8, 2024; three bank drafts payable to Victoria Strong for $100,000, $327,960 and $110,740, dated November 18 to December 2, 2024, from an individual the affiant understands to be S Bend's principal; and a list of the assets it says it bought, per the First Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, July 21, 2025, paras. 17–18.

A second claimed sale surfaced as well. In or about December 2024 two former Victoria Strong employees told TL Classic they had bought some of its assets, and in March 2025 the landlord received a copy of an asset purchase agreement dated December 2, 2024 between Victoria Strong and 16564445 Canada Inc. TL Classic submitted that the agreement is "prima facie deficient and contains neither a reference to any consideration or even a purchase price," as the Endorsement of Justice Osborne, Aug. 26, 2025, para. 6 records. The agreement also purports to cover property S Bend says it bought, the landlord's affidavit adds, among it an exterior dust collector affixed to the building that the affiant understands will cost more than $75,000 to remove and remediate, with concrete footings to demolish and roof and masonry to repair, per the First Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, July 21, 2025, paras. 19, 21, 26.

Secured creditors and lessors pressed claims of their own. A notice dated February 5, 2025, from a bailiff retained by Meridian OneCap Credit Corp., concerned a truck and related equipment; Royal Bank of Canada, through Associated Bailiffs, asked in March for an update on the distraint and sent its general security agreement; Mitsubishi HC Capital Canada Leasing, Inc. sought to recover some of the equipment; and a writ of delivery dated June 27, 2025 directed the Sheriff of Peel to seize a 2019 DMC brush sanding machine for RBC. In May, TL Classic told RBC it would not grant access without direction from the court. It "does not claim any interest in the personal property," the affidavit says, but with competing ownership and secured claims it could not release anything "without placing itself at risk of liability," per the First Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, July 21, 2025, paras. 32–33, 36–41.

Depositing machinery with the court

TL Classic's application, issued July 31, 2025 under Rule 43 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and s. 67(1) of the Personal Property Security Act, asked for an order directing it to deposit the property with an officer of the court or, alternatively, authorizing it to release scheduled items to S Bend against an indemnity for removal and remediation and "sell, trade, abandon or otherwise dispose of, on and for its own account, the balance of the Property," its liability then extinguished. It also sought a lien for its costs, and a per diem storage fee consistent with the lease rent from any claimant that would neither remove its property nor release its interest, per the First Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, July 21, 2025, paras. 3, 47–49 and the Third Affidavit of Tony Capobianco Jr., Jan. 29, 2026, para. 7.

On August 26, 2025, RBC told Justice Osborne it had been seeking to inspect the equipment and "has been denied the ability to do so by the Applicant," and asserted a general security interest ranking first under an inter-creditor agreement with the Business Development Bank of Canada. He directed that RBC and its appraiser be given access on September 17, open to anyone else asserting an interest, and said the matter could come back afterward. "The parties, and particularly the Applicant, understand and appreciate the challenges associated with attempting to deposit physical equipment with the Court," he wrote, per the Endorsement of Justice Osborne, Aug. 26, 2025, paras. 8–11.

S Bend, RBC, 16564445 Canada, CWB National Leasing Inc. and Meridian OneCap attended the inspection. Asked afterward to claim or abandon, S Bend and 16564445 Canada each claimed the equipment, RBC the sanding machine, CWB National Leasing a 2023 Biesse Rover CNC router, and Meridian OneCap a 2024 Isuzu NRR flat-deck truck. By October 4 no other respondent had answered, per the Supplementary Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, Oct. 4, 2025, paras. 9–12.

Two letters from Sudbury

On September 3, 2025, the Canada Revenue Agency wrote to TL Classic twice. "We understand that you are a creditor of VICTORIA STRONG MANUFACTURING CORP and have, or are preparing to sell,liquidate, dispose of, or distribute their property," the first letter begins. It claims a deemed trust of $407,051.72 for GST/HST collected but not paid, with deemed trust dates from October 31, 2022 to July 31, 2024; the second claims $43,322.52 in income tax, CPP contributions and EI premiums deducted from employees' wages and not paid. If there is no prescribed security interest, "you must pay the deemed trust claim in the amount of $407,051.72 from the proceeds of the sale, liquidation, disposal or distribution of any property of VICTORIA STRONG MANUFACTURING CORP, minus the costs that you incurred to enforce recovery," the first letter tells the landlord, per the CRA letters to TL Classic, Sept. 3, 2025 (Application Record, Ex. D, pp. 66–70). The landlord's second affidavit puts the CRA's claims at $450,374.24 cumulatively; asked to attend the inspection, the agency would not send a representative, per the Supplementary Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, Oct. 4, 2025, paras. 13–15.

What custody cost

TL Classic's second affidavit itemized the bill in October 2025: $18,219.22 to Xpera Risk Mitigation & Investigation LP for security from December 10, 2024 to January 8, 2025; $20,425.71 in gas since December 9, with hydro on top, to keep the empty unit heated and cooled against mould and other deterioration; and $433,844.02 in rental income it had been deprived of the opportunity to earn since December 9, 2024. Third-party storage would have cost more than the rent forgone, the affiant said, and the heavy-duty equipment "would have been extremely difficult to move and disassemble," per the Supplementary Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, Oct. 4, 2025, paras. 21–28. By January 29, 2026 the approximate figures were $18,000 for security, $50,000 for gas and hydro and $480,000 in rental income lost "since October 2024 to present," plus legal fees, per the Third Affidavit of Tony Capobianco Jr., Jan. 29, 2026, para. 19. "TL Classic is essentially warehousing the Property," the first affidavit had said, per the First Affidavit of Tony Capobianco, July 21, 2025, para. 42.

From interpleader to receiver

A case conference had been set by endorsement of December 1, 2025, because the relief the applicant requested "appeared to have changed since the original application was issued." On January 9, 2026, counsel told Justice J. Dietrich that "given the number and complexity of competing claims that have now arisen," TL Classic wanted leave to amend its application to request a receiver under s. 101 of the Courts of Justice Act. She granted it and set the receivership application down for February 4, per the Endorsement of Justice J. Dietrich, Jan. 9, 2026, paras. 1–2. The "originally intended property interpleader aspects of the application are no longer practical," the landlord's affiant swore, on counsel's advice, per the Third Affidavit of Tony Capobianco Jr., Jan. 29, 2026, para. 7.

The January affidavit set out where the claims stood. PPSA searches as recent as January 26, 2026 disclosed numerous registrations, and the affidavit names nine registrants. Three appeared to have a continuing interest in particular items: Meridian OneCap in the truck, CWB National Leasing in its router, Mitsubishi in a 2023 Biesse Rover K Smart 1532. RBC had entered into a release with TL Classic. Whether the rest of the registrants still asserted any interest, the affiant had not been able to determine, and S Bend and 16564445 Canada had at various points asserted that they bought items of the property. A receivership had been canvassed with significant claimants, the CRA included, and the affiant, on counsel's advice, believed "there is likely to be broad support for the approach," per the Third Affidavit of Tony Capobianco Jr., Jan. 29, 2026, paras. 12–18, 23.

The draft order rests on s. 101 alone; the Commercial List model it was drawn from also cites s. 243(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, and a footnote there observes that s. 243(1) provides for a receiver "on application by a secured creditor," per the Blackline to the Commercial List Model Receivership Order, n. 2 (Application Record, Tab 4). The draft would also have barred proceedings against TL Classic without the receiver's consent or the court's leave, and had the receiver pay its costs of the application from the debtor's estate, on a substantial indemnity basis if its security did not provide for them, "with such priority and at such time as this Court may determine," per the Draft Receivership Order, recital, paras. 2, 10, 28 (Application Record, Tab 3). The receiver's factum does not say whether those clauses are in the order made; it describes the appointment as over Victoria Strong's property at the unit, acquired for or used in its business there, and the proceeds of its sale, per the Factum of the Receiver, Apr. 24, 2026, para. 1.

Twelve interested parties, four offers

Grant Thornton engaged Workingman Capital Corp. as auctioneer. The property went up on its online platform on March 2, 2026, with a bid deadline of March 23; over 750 potential buyers visited its website, it contacted 20 strategic buyers in the woodworking sector directly, and twelve parties expressed interest and four made offers. The receiver had told the debtor's creditors it would market the property, and none objected; they could have bid, and "ultimately chose not to," per the Factum of the Receiver, Apr. 24, 2026, paras. 6–8, 24.

Riverside Millwork Group made the highest offer for everything except the vehicle, as is, where is and conditional only on court approval, under a bill of sale dated March 24, 2026. For the vehicle, the auctioneer went back to the bidders whose offers had included it; the highest offer is in a bill of sale dated April 16, conditional on "internal confirmations" from the proposed buyer and on court approval, with a back-up buyer on the same terms and the auctioneer itself as backstop. The receiver's view, after discussions with the auctioneer, is that continued marketing would not produce a superior transaction, per the Factum of the Receiver, Apr. 24, 2026, paras. 1, 9–11, 20–22.

The prices sit in four confidential appendices to the receiver's First Report of April 21, 2026: the unredacted bills of sale, a summary of the offers and an unredacted statement of receipts and disbursements. The receiver asks that they be sealed until the transactions complete or the court orders otherwise. It intends to give creditors with registered interests in property sold an unredacted copy of the relevant bill of sale on request, once they confirm they will not publicly disclose its contents, per the Factum of the Receiver, Apr. 24, 2026, paras. 27–28, 33.

Discharge in the same motion

Once the sales close, the factum says, "there will be substantially no remaining Property in the estate of the Debtor." Citing the minimal work left and the lack of additional funds in the estate to pay for another court appearance, the receiver asks to be discharged when it files a discharge certificate, with a release for Grant Thornton, its affiliates and its counsel, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, save for gross negligence or wilful misconduct, per the Factum of the Receiver, Apr. 24, 2026, paras. 1, 35–37.

It also seeks approval of the First Report, its receipts and disbursements, and the fees of Grant Thornton to April 21 and of Cassels to April 16. "In light of the limited value available in the Debtor's estate," both firms agreed to discount their fees; a further $12,000, inclusive of disbursements and taxes and after the discount, is sought for the work to discharge, primarily preparing for this motion, per the Factum of the Receiver, Apr. 24, 2026, paras. 1, 44, 46, 49.

The motion is returnable April 30, 2026. For its facts the factum refers the court to the First Report, and it does not itself say how the claims TL Classic catalogued through 2025, from the alleged buyers, the equipment lessors, the CRA and the landlord itself, are to be dealt with, per the Factum of the Receiver, Apr. 24, 2026, para. 2.