That’s Dr. Wes Hall—Chancellor of the University of Toronto, Dragons’ Den star, and the Canadian Nelson Mandela.
His QM Environmental owes $29.2 million to Scotiabank, its sole secured lender—plus another $47.4 million to hundreds of unsecured creditors, mostly small suppliers. Among them: Patrick Dovigi’s GFL Environmental, owed $3.2 million.
Wes acquired QM eight years ago. It used to be profitable. In the past few years, the executive suite has seen heavy churn—CEOs, CFOs, senior VPs. One tipster says Hall’s nickname inside QM is “The Seagull”— he flies in, s**** over everything, and leaves.
When I first wrote about Hall in December 2022, QM listed nine executives—mostly white, none apparently Black. That struck me, given how prominently he positions himself as a crusader against anti-Black racism in boardrooms.
His BlackNorth Initiative still boasts marquee directors, including Prem Watsa, Paul Desmarais III, former Governor General David Johnston, Mark Mulroney, and celebrity lawyer Walied Soliman. DEI is dead, I expect BlackNorth to fizzle out.
I get a steady stream of tips about Wes Hall, including his active history of litigation—though that doesn’t automatically reflect poorly on him. I'd need to take a closer look. Some compare Wes to Trump. He's definitely brash and self-promotional. You will also recall that Trump claimed that bankruptcy laws are just another tool in a businessman’s arsenal.
This was my latest profile of Wes Hall from last year:
OPM