West Horizon: a receivership adjourned in August, then granted by consent

West Horizon Contracting Inc. is a general contractor in road and bridge construction and maintenance in northern British Columbia, working out of Smithers. Its clients include the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, municipalities and Indigenous governments, per Royal Bank of Canada v West Horizon Contracting Inc., 2026 BCSC 1757, Aug. 25, 2026, para. 11 and the receiver's Form 87 statement, Sept. 24, 2026, para. 4. In July Jared McCreery, a director, affirmed that the company employed approximately 53 people, "including superintendents, project supervisors, engineers, machine operators, labourers, human resources and payroll personnel," and listed its work in hand: the Kersley Dale Washout, the Quesnel Hydraulic Road, the Hanna Creek North Bridge, the Fan & Revision Creek Bridges, a contract called Phase 3 Cycle 16, and Princess Street for the City of Smithers. As of July 8, he said, the company's projects carried an active contract value of $31,760,000, of which $30,160,000 was bonded, per the Affidavit #1 of Jared McCreery, July 22, 2026, paras. 28, 45, 48.

On September 18, 2026, Justice Underhill of the Supreme Court of British Columbia appointed BDO Canada Limited receiver and manager of all of the company's assets, undertakings and property, under s. 243(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and s. 39 of the Law and Equity Act, on the petition of Royal Bank of Canada in Vancouver Registry No. VLC-S-264776. The order recites that it was made "BY CONSENT," per the Receivership Order, Sept. 18, 2026, p. 1 and para. 2. Twenty-four days earlier, on the same petition, Justice Coval had declined to appoint a receiver "at this stage" and adjourned the application, accepting the company's and its surety's submission that a receivership risked seriously prejudicing its work for the ministry, per 2026 BCSC 1757, paras. 9–10, 29(a).

A bridge at Fisher Creek

RBC's facilities included a revolving demand facility of up to $3,000,000, secured by a general security agreement and by guarantees from the company's two directors and others, per the Petition to the Court, filed June 24, 2026, Part 2, paras. 5, 7, 10, 14. By March 2026, the reasons record, the company's working capital shortages had taken it as much as $100,000 past the demand facility's limit, and RBC began returning cheques and payments NSF. That month RBC learned that the shortages arose in part from a $4.5 million cost overrun on the Fisher Creek Bridge project. In RBC's view, carrying the overrun as "earnings in excess of billings" overstated the company's reported net income. West Horizon disputes that characterization; it says the amounts are additional work done at Fisher Creek that cannot be invoiced until the ministry approves the extras, per 2026 BCSC 1757, paras. 15–16. Mr. McCreery's reply affidavit says the treatment "is WHC's standard practice of how work completed is accounted for. There was no attempt to mislead RBC," per the Affidavit #2 of Jared McCreery, Aug. 18, 2026, para. 19. The bridge reached total completion on June 30, 2026, Mr. McCreery affirmed, and the company valued its formal claim to the ministry for the project at $3,353,456.71, per the Affidavit #1 of Jared McCreery, July 22, 2026, paras. 36–38.

On April 20, 2026, RBC moved the file to its Special Loans & Advisory Services group. The company had not missed a scheduled payment; RBC's internal assessment was that the overrun was a material adverse change in its financial condition. On May 7, at a meeting with RBC, analysis by West Horizon's financial advisor MNP showed a borrowing margin shortfall of almost $2 million as of April, and the company asked RBC to forbear and to raise the demand facility by $500,000 for about six weeks. RBC issued demand letters and notices of intention to enforce security to the company and its guarantors the same day, per 2026 BCSC 1757, paras. 17–19.

Five hundred thousand dollars and two mortgages

By a forbearance letter of May 11, RBC agreed to raise the demand facility temporarily by $500,000, until June 26, 2026. In exchange West Horizon was to give RBC first-ranking mortgages over two properties, Tatlow and Seeley Lake. RBC understood at the time that the company did not have the consent of Tatlow's other owner to the mortgage, and that a first mortgage on Seeley Lake had to be discharged. Ordinarily, the reasons record, RBC would have required its security in place before advancing, "but it made an exception due to WHC's urgent need for the money." The Tatlow mortgage was not granted, the first mortgage on Seeley Lake did not come off title, and the $500,000 due on June 26 was not repaid, per 2026 BCSC 1757, paras. 20–22.

Mr. McCreery's account of those days differs. He affirmed that the forbearance letter "was a short fuse offer that expired the same day on May 8, 2026 at 12:00 p.m.," that he had no lawyer because "all the firms I contacted were in conflict with RBC," and that he signed on the understanding that RBC knew he had no ability to convey a mortgage over Tatlow, per the Affidavit #1 of Jared McCreery, July 22, 2026, paras. 6–7, 11. RBC's affiant, Michael Daerendinger of its special loans unit, replied that the short timeline "was the timeline WHC itself requested for the increase, instead of a deadline unilaterally imposed by RBC," and that RBC would not have agreed to the increase had it understood the Tatlow mortgage would not be granted, per the Affidavit #2 of Michael Daerendinger, Aug. 17, 2026, paras. 1, 17, 24.

RBC's evidence is that the account then went over the new limit. On or around June 2, after payroll, it was approximately $204,000 over; on June 4, $245,000. From June 5 RBC let payroll through only against available balances, and by June 12 it had returned about $220,000 of cheques and payments. RBC filed its petition on June 24, putting the debt at $3,963,723.84 as of June 12, plus interest and costs, per the Petition to the Court, filed June 24, 2026, Part 2, paras. 22, 31–36. The petition also argued that the receiver should be authorized to assign the company into bankruptcy, per the Petition, Part 3, paras. 16–17. As at July 30, RBC estimated, returned items had reached approximately $637,000, per Mr. Daerendinger's Affidavit #2, Aug. 17, 2026, para. 30. Mr. McCreery's evidence was that the company had always made payroll, through an account it opened at National Bank of Canada for the purpose of refinancing, per his Affidavit #1, July 22, 2026, para. 19.

Mr. Daerendinger's second affidavit also sets out what company counsel told RBC's counsel about refinancing: on May 27, that refinancing from National Bank should come through by "mid-June"; on June 18, that West Horizon had "a verbal commitment from National"; and on June 19, that there was "nothing in writing from National yet and nothing concrete as to timing," per the Affidavit #2 of Michael Daerendinger, Aug. 17, 2026, paras. 35, 37–38. Mr. McCreery affirmed that on or around July 17, after the petition, National Bank told him it would not complete the refinancing with an active receivership petition, per his Affidavit #1, July 22, 2026, para. 63. The company turned to a private lender, Provida Financial Corporation, and by the August hearing had put an unsigned commitment letter in evidence, per 2026 BCSC 1757, para. 23.