Tabor Mountain Ski Resort Ltd. (TMSR) and its owner denied the provincial government’s allegations that they misspent the proceeds of an insurance payout from the January 2018 fire that destroyed the ski lodge.
In a Nov. 15-filed reply to the province’s June 3 B.C. Supreme Court notice of claim, TMSR and Fernand Wilfred Thibault “specifically deny that they knowingly and falsely represented to the plaintiff the total value of the insurance proceeds received by them, and say, and the fact is, that the insurance proceeds received by Tabor Mountain were recorded and displayed in the financial information provided to the plaintiff on an annual basis.”
The court filing said the ski lodge was valued at $1,188,953 but the insurer provided $809,633, representing the depreciated value. The province’s filing claimed that TMSR and Thibault received about $928,829 in 2018 and they falsely claimed last April that the insurer paid only $591,800.
“Due to the unprofitable operations of Tabor Mountain, and its general financial position, no other funds were available to reconstruct the ski lodge other than the insurance proceeds,” said the TMSR reply. “The insurance proceeds alone were insufficient for Tabor Mountain to reconstruct the ski lodge.”
With the “consent and active encouragement” of the province, TMSR claimed it sought help from non-profit sports organizations to rebuild the ski lodge. Thibault said he met in September 2018 at TMSR with representatives of the province to discuss its future operations. For four and a half-years, he claimed to work on a master plan, with assistance of the province, and sought approval from local Indigenous groups to expand the resort.
The TMSR reply also said that the province did not inform the company or Thibault until September 2023 that the proof of insurance was deficient and did not meet the requirements of the operating agreement or lease. The reply said that TMSR also learned from the province in September 2023 “for the first time” that the improvements on the land, including the ski lodge, were owned by the province.
TMSR and Thibault said that the province knew or ought to have known that TMSR’s books showed the land, including the ski lodge, as the company’s depreciable assets or leasehold improvements. It also said the province knew the insurance coverage met its requirements.
TMSR’s reply said the resort, which is 20 kilometres east of Prince George, operated from at least 1980. In 2015, Tabor Mountain was a ski and snowboard venue during the Canada Winter Games. The 20-year operating agreement on 135 hectares of Crown land expired in 2020, but was renewed, most recently through July 2024.
Thibault acquired shares in the company in 2004 from Clarence Fillion Jr. and became the sole shareholder, director and officer when he bought out Tim Fillion on Dec. 10, 2007.
The province’s lawsuit claimed TMSR and Thibault "unlawfully distributed" the insurance money in the form of repayments for taxes owed, as well as repayments for loans owed to shareholders, "including payments to Thibault.” It also alleged the money went to buy goods and equipment and three properties in the Ferndale area.
The notice of claim was filed on June 3 in B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria. On July 24, a notice of application was filed on Thibault's behalf. The application asserted that arbitration, not litigation, was the appropriate venue to deal with the matter.
On Nov. 12, by consent of both parties, the court dismissed the TMSR application to stay the lawsuit.
With files from Mark Nielsen
