A GFL Environmental Inc. office building in north Toronto was hit with a barrage of bullets overnight this week, extending the string of attacks on GFL property, equipment and executive homes over the last four months.Robyn Doolittle/The Globe and Mail
A GFL Environmental Inc. GFL-T office building in north Toronto was hit with a barrage of bullets overnight this week, extending the string of attacks on GFL-linked property, equipment and executive homes over the past four months.
Employees of the waste management giant arrived for work at a GFL hauling yard on Thursday morning and found the glass front entrance shattered, with bullet holes in the front door’s metal frame as well as in the front wall.
Police say 10 bullets were fired. Investigators are now trying to collect surveillance footage from the area to determine what time the incident occurred. No injuries were reported.
Employees arrived to work at the building on Thursday morning to find the glass front entrance shattered, with bullet holes in the front door’s metal frame as well as in the front wall.Robyn Doolittle/The Globe and Mail
The shooting happened just weeks after the homes of two executives tied to GFL were hit by bullets in what police have described as a targeted attack. There has also been a series of suspected arson attacks against GFL properties and equipment in Ontario this summer.
Toronto police believe the latest shooting is connected to the attacks on the executives’ homes, spokesperson Nadine Ramadan said Friday.
Over the past 17 years, GFL has grown into one of Canada’s largest companies by market value, now worth $22-billion, and it is backed by a host of institutional investors. Global private equity giant BC Partners, based in Britain, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan are its two largest shareholders, and both have played prominent roles in GFL’s rise since investing through a recapitalization in 2018.
GFL, which stands for “green for life,” went public two years later in March, 2020, right before the first round of COVID-19 lockdowns. As a public company it has attracted even more established investors, including GIC, the giant pension fund based in Singapore, Fidelity Investments and Royal Bank of Canada’s investment arm.
On Friday, GFL, BC Partners and Teachers, both of whom have seats on GFL’s board of directors, declined to comment.
When the first shootings were reported in October, it wasn’t clear if they were an isolated event. But subsequent reporting now shows there is a pattern of violence.
Just before midnight on Sept. 29, shots were fired at the front entrance of chief executive Patrick Dovigi’s home in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood. Less than an hour later, the front door of GFL’s former senior vice-president, Ted Manziaris, who continues to consult for the company, was sprayed with nine bullets.
At the time, Mr. Dovigi disputed the police narrative that these were targeted shootings and instead described the incident at his home as a botched robbery.
Police in Windsor say they believe six GFL vehicles – including a dump truck and cube van – were deliberately set ablaze on June 27, causing about $1-million in damage. Then on July 1, someone destroyed six more trucks at an industrial yard used by Green Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in Vaughan, about a 10 minute drive from the hauling yard that was recently hit. GFL owns a large stake in GIP.
Four days after the GIP incident, emergency crews found company machinery had been set ablaze at a construction site adjacent to Highway 400, also in Vaughan.
Windsor police, York Regional Police and the Ontario Provincial Police are all investigating but have declined to say whether they believe the incidents are connected. Toronto police said Friday they are working with other regional police services to investigate the incidents.
Police say 10 bullets were fired in the incident and investigators are trying to collect surveillance footage from the area to determine what time the incident occurred.Robyn Doolittle/The Globe and Mail
Despite the recent violence, GFL shares have traded higher in recent months and set a new all-time high in August. The rally reversed a downward slide earlier this year that was driven by investor concerns about GFL’s debt levels. The company has grown through continuous acquisitions over the years, and many of these deals were funded with debt.
In response to the share price slide, GFL has considered selling one of its large divisions, and proceeds from any sale could be used to repay debt.