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w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 1 8 13 \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ N O RT H \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP there is anything they can offer that we don't have already." The difficulty facing security collections, says Muir, is that by the time an investigation begins and a BCSC panel decision is rendered, funds have often vanished, either spent or shifted to other jurisdictions, which again make retrieval more complex for a provincial agency. The commission has had success, though, as last year it recouped almost $10 million for Bossteam investors who were defrauded. The BCSC froze the assets of Bossteam E-Commerce Inc., Yan Zhu (a.k.a. Rachel Zhu) and Guan Qiang Zhang. They included bank accounts that collectively held US$9.7 million and sold land valued at $122,810 owned by Zhu. The BCSC is one of a roster of governments and agencies with uncollected fines, penalties and owed funds that range from a flotilla of municipalities through to federal agencies such as Revenue Canada. In early 2016, the Canadian Tax- payers Federation found $462 million was overdue with the B.C. Medical Services Plan, with the majority being more than 90 days overdue and some up to five years overdue. In 2014, B.C. Health Shared Services (which handles patient and outpatient billing) advertised for an international debt collector to try to recoup the $8 million to $10 million in outstanding fees that occurs annually. In September 2017, the government was owed $45 mil- lion in Port Mann bridge tolls. Officials threatened to with- hold driver's licences and car insurance renewals, and by May, the figure had slid to $15 million. Metro Vancouver's TransLink reported $18 million remained on the Golden Ears bridge, with some drivers' accounts sent to collection agencies. Just about every municipality in B.C. has problems col- lecting on unpaid parking fines, says lawyer Nancy Wilhelm- Morden, mayor of the resort town of Whistler and a driving force behind a resolution to the Union of B.C. Municipalities that asks the Insurance Bureau of Canada to step in and col- lect these fines. Whistler racks up $60,000 to $100,000 annu- ally in parking tickets, while larger cities such as Vancouver have $6 million in tickets outstanding. Agency "collecting is slow, expensive and labour intensive," she says, suggesting that ICBC and municipalities revenue share in some form. Brad Lohner, chief executive officer of PCR Group of Companies, which does debt collection across Canada and the U.S., says that, over his 34 years in collections, he has worked with many different government agencies including the B.C. MSP, ICBC and also chased student loans. Collec- tion agencies, he says, both compete and share collection work with lawyers, including government collections issued as requests for proposals. "If the economy is low, some [law firms] will jump into debt collection," he says. But, more often, legal firms will work with collection agencies handling difficult clients. Lohner isn't handling any government accounts currently, he says, but it has a law firm on retainer for other business. "We sue about 20 businesses or people a month," he says. Lohner, once a shareholder in a major Canadian collec- tions agency, now runs a smaller 16-to-20-person collections agency. He says he expects to see government RFPs for col- lections issued this year from B.C., Alberta and Ontario gov- ernments. He has not participated in past RFP bidding as the larger collection agencies, formed by a spate of mergers, have hotly pursued the business and thinned the profit margins. "But we are looking at each one," he says. Lohner, also a past non-lawyer contributor to Carswell's 2012 Commercial Debt Collection in Canada: A Legal Hand- book, says the debt collection business remains a constant one. Vancouver lawyer Meldon Ellis does work with collection agencies, but he has thought about working with agencies such as Revenue Canada. "When you have complex tax col- lection matters or where government has pledged to take a harder stance and be more aggressive in collecting in tax evasion matters, I've wondered whether there is an opportu- nity for private lawyers to assist," he says. Law firms, though, can't handle the smaller accounts; his firm only handles accounts valued above $10,000. "Litigation has a cost," he says. But, even a judgment may be useless. A B.C. veteran col- lections lawyer who asked not to be named says a judgment can be worth only the paper value. "And $2 will buy you a coffee at McDonald's," he says. — JEAN SORENSEN What do your clients need? The means to move on. Guaranteed ™ . Baxter Structures customizes personal injury settlements into tax-free annuities that can help your clients be secure for life. Need more information? Contact us at 1 800 387 1686 or baxterstructures.com Kyla A. Baxter, CSSC PRESIDENT, BAXTER STRUCTURES ntitled-3 1 2017-11-01 3:58 PM

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