West Coast Auto & Leisure vehicle sales site shuttered
A company that once proclaimed itself Manitoba's fastest growing RV retailer — and recently expanded its footprint — has gone dark.
West Coast Auto & Leisure's lot was empty Thursday. Typically, used cars and RVs cover 2585 McGillivray Blvd., an acreage at Winnipeg's southwest edge.
The roughly 15,000-square-foot building on site, which West Coast opened three years ago, revealed no signs of activity. Candy canes were still painted on a window.
Leadership at West Coast Auto didn't respond to interview requests by print deadline. The dealer's Google status reads 'permanently closed.'
Meantime, West Coast's sister company in Saskatchewan has entered receivership.
Moose Jaw Auto & Leisure owed the Royal Bank of Canada approximately $1.5 million as of July 15, 2024, per documents filed in Saskatchewan's Court of King's Bench. BDO Canada seized control of the business last August.
The Saskatchewan operation had roughly $38,864 in its accounts receivable on July 31, 2024, a BDO report reads. It highlights $9,352 being owed from West Coast Motor Sales & Leasing Corp. (connected to West Coast Auto) and RVana Leisure Group.
'(These are) two (2) related companies that are no longer operating and have no ability to pay,' outlines the BDO report, which is dated Feb. 28.
Vehicles have been off West Coast Auto's lot for at least two months, according to an estimate from a nearby garden centre employee. The change took her by surprise, she said.
Just four years ago, construction crews were erecting the new building. Panoramic views and a photo booth with room to showcase vehicles were in the designs, a Contempora Steel Builders online post reads.
'2021 will be an exciting year for West Coast,' then-general manager Zane Puhach said in a video on West Coast Auto's YouTube channel.
He cited new staff, RV product lines and the upcoming building.
The dealership had been around for more than two decades. It was previously called West Coast Auto & RV, and it operated in a converted house.
In 2022, West Coast was a Winnipeg Blue Bombers sponsorship partner. Puhach, in another video, highlighted gameday giveaways and a tailgating experience.
The Bombers declined to comment Thursday, noting the partnership ended a couple years ago.
West Coast Auto & Leisure was a 'long-standing member' of the Manitoba Used Car Dealers Association until 2021. It had new management, said association executive director Kim Magnusson. The organization declined further comment.
Capital Commercial Real Estate advertises 2585 McGillivray Blvd. for sale or lease. The two-storey building is listed for $6.25 million and $26 per square foot.
West Coast sold Glacier Ice House ice fishing trailers and Zinger RVs, among other brands. It still brands itself 'Manitoba's Fastest Growing RV Retailer' on its Instagram profile.
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabrielle PichéReporter
Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.
Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
11 hours ago
- CBC
As Stephenville awaits airport's fate, residents rue unfulfilled promises
Social Sharing Bob Byrnes has been in business in Stephenville for decades, and once served on the board of the non-profit corporation that used to run the airport. He calls the current state of affairs in the west coast town a "desperate situation." People are concerned. "We've regressed from being an international airport to an aerodrome and now just a bit of pavement," Byrnes told CBC News. "It's a terrible travesty that carries a lot of negative weight on this town." A steady drip of bad news for the airport over recent months has gushed into a flood of misfortune. The airport and its owner face millions in legal claims. Earlier this year, Stephenville Dymond International Airport saw its status downgraded to a registered aerodrome. Finally, Newfoundland Power pulled the plug on electrical service, after issuing a notice of disconnection over what it called "outstanding account issues." The airport has been closed since last Tuesday. Some community leaders think things could have — and should have — been done differently. Byrnes — president of the Downtown Stephenville Business Improvement Association Corporation — believes the mayor shoulders the blame. "Tom Rose is the one who pushed this airport deal from day one," Byrne said. "He used the fact that Carl Dymond was looking at coming in here to get himself re-elected and he pushed this deal on that airport board. They were all volunteers and their backs were to the wall." For his part, Rose acknowledges that the current situation is dire, but says there were few other options. "Today we are at a point, at the worst point this airport has ever been in — the power was cut off," he said in a recent interview. "This is a devastating blow to the airport and the town. We have to find a path forward." The mayor rejects criticism of the path that led to Ottawa businessman Carl Dymond taking over the airport. He says there was no appetite for the town to continue funnelling tax dollars into the operation to keep it afloat. "At the end of the day, there was Carl Dymond, or there was nothing," Rose said. "I felt the airport was going to close." Looking back, does he think the town council served the community in the best way possible, given everything known now? "One thousand per cent," Rose said. "I'm very confident that we did the right thing at the right time because it's not as if we had Plan A, Plan B, Plan C. There was only one plan. There was only one thing in front of us. It was Plan A. There was no other option." Former town councillor Lenny Tiller is not sure about that. He served on council while the Dymond proposal was being debated. While most councillors were in lock-step with Rose in supporting the airport's sale, Tiller was often a lone dissenting voice. "It was very unfortunate because it was my understanding the role of a councillor was to be able to speak freely in a committee and in a public meeting," Tiller told CBC News. "At the end of the day I had two choices — toe the line or sleep at night — and I couldn't do both." Tiller resigned a year and a half ago. The airport debate was a major factor. Two other councillors left around the same time. Tiller says there were red flags about the Dymond plan, but town leadership exerted pressure to proceed. "It was something I wanted to be wrong on, when the mayor told me I couldn't possibly understand a file of this size," Tiller said. "I wanted the mayor to be right. I wanted him to be right. I wanted to be proven wrong because the price was too big. I said if what I'm seeing is right, we are going to pay dearly. And now we have." WATCH | Lights out at Stephenville airport as power disconnected, operations grounded 'The wrong guy took over': Residents frustrated as Carl Dymond's airport promises fall flat 4 days ago Duration 2:40 The day after the power company pulled the plug last week, people on the streets of Stephenville expressed dismay. "You had Carl Dymond coming to Stephenville with plenty of promises," Paul Green told CBC News. "Promised people all kinds of things in Stephenville — making donations to different organizations. And today we are without power. It's terrible." Michael Young also noted there were lots of promises. "But so far nothing's come to fruition with that," he said. Cecil Ryan said he was saddened by the situation. "I was hoping that somewhere down the road the airport would become a viable industry again here in Stephenville, because we could sure use one here," Ryan said. "I guess the wrong guy took it over, because it didn't happen." When he initially announced his intentions to acquire the Stephenville airport nearly four years ago, Dymond made an array of pledges that would have provided an adrenaline boost to the region. Hundreds of millions in private investment. Thousands of jobs. The return of scheduled passenger service. He took over two years ago. None of that has happened. Instead, there have been a cascading series of financial, legal, and operational challenges. The mayor says the town council wasn't responsible for vetting whether Dymond had the resources required. "Basically, it wasn't our job as a council to determine, did he have the proof?" Rose said. "That was the airport authority and the lawyer and the legal team. We trusted that. That was our due diligence." Rose, who served on the airport board as an ex officio member, does regret not requiring Dymond to post a bond for the new runway lighting system or a planned $10-million fire hall. Rose acknowledges there are concerns in the town, but says it's time to look for new opportunities. "We're hearing it and there's Facebook warriors and all that, and there's people that are pro council and negative council. And that's part of the game. I'm not too worried about that," Rose said. "But I do know this: Stephenville are proud citizens. The airport is the most pivotal political football that we have on our plate right now. It is who we are, has defined us as a town. We need to find a solution forward." N.S. company eyeing airport opportunity Celtic Air Services, which operates the airport in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., recently went public with its potential interest, saying it sees "great untapped potential in Stephenville." David Morgan, CEO of Celtic Air Services, says he doesn't want to buy the airport, but if an opportunity arises to run it, he's interested in that. "We're just waiting for certain pieces to take their course and to see if the situation changes and if it does, we'd be more than excited to bring in our team, engage with the folks that already work there, and get the place sort of back up and running," Morgan told CBC News last week. According to Morgan — and other media reports — Dymond is not interested in that arrangement. Celtic Air Services says it wants to collaborate with the town council and provincial government in exploring the airport's future. The province declined interview requests about that call for collaboration, instead issuing a one-line statement from Industry Minister Steve Crocker. "The airport in Stephenville is a privately owned facility, and the provincial government has not been engaged and has no active role in this matter," that written statement noted. Opposition Leader Tony Wakeham — who is MHA for Stephenville-Port au Port — says the province should play a role. "Right now, I think the province needs to work with the town of Stephenville to get this airport straightened out. Mr. Dymond has shown no evidence of his ability to meet any of the commitments that he has made over the last few years, and unfortunately right now, it's to the point where the lights have been turned off," Wakeham said. "So I think there's a situation right now where we need to get the government involved with the town and find out what are the options, and what do those options look like." Wakeham stopped short of providing details on exactly what options could be pursued, and what role the government could play. He stressed that air ambulance flights and the Marine Institute's safety and emergency response training program have been impacted by the current uncertainty. As for the person at the centre of all this, Carl Dymond has declined interview requests from CBC News since the initial reports broke last month about Newfoundland Power issuing a notice of disconnection. In a text message last week, he said he expected the power shutoff to only last a few days.
Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- Globe and Mail
Protect the sacred space of leisure from being contaminated by work
Interested in more careers-related content? Check out our new weekly Work Life newsletter. Sent every Monday afternoon. Gloria Mark, a leading researcher on attention and distraction and University of California informatics professor, warns us to beware of leisure contamination: The tendency while taking a break to still be wrestling with work and family responsibilities. It's a mental spillover of stress into those rare moments that are meant to be restful. 'Psychological detachment – fully detaching from stressors during leisure time – is crucial for recovery from stress. But achieving it in our always-connected, always-on, busy culture is getting harder and harder to do,' she writes on her Substack blog. Most of us believe leisure time has been shrinking. But she says the quantity has remained constant over the past 20 years; what has changed is how we spend it, with an extra two hours spent watching screens – smartphones, other personal devices and television. Despite leisure time remaining consistent, however, stress levels have risen sharply. 'Even when we set aside time to relax, we often don't take full advantage of it, allowing our minds to remain tethered to screens, work or other responsibilities. It's like a faucet that never fully turns off – a steady drip, drip, drip of stress that contaminates our leisure time. All kinds of external pressures like demanding jobs, financial concerns, social expectations and disturbing world events in the news intrude on our rest, preventing the mental and emotional recovery that leisure time is meant to provide,' she says. To reduce leisure contamination, she advises us to consciously separate work from leisure. That means no emails or messages and no thinking about your next report during downtime. 'Leisure must be protected as a distinct and sacred space,' she says. Approach leisure time with intention. Consider it a valuable resource, not just filler time. Choose activities that rejuvenate you. 'Despite having the time to unwind, many of us squander it – not by choice, but because of ingrained habits and external intrusions,' she writes. For many people, the biggest block of continuous leisure time is our vacations. It can be hard to avoid contamination and in some cases nearly impossible. Maybe you're a sole entrepreneur or a lawyer prepping for a big trial or someone else with an important, upcoming critical deadline. It may be even more important in those situations to ensure refreshing time away, in essence avoiding contamination in the part of the vacation that must be contaminated. Time management coach Elizabeth Grace Saunders says that delicate balance starts with telling people you are away – on vacation. Your instinct may be the opposite but an out-of-office responder reduces your worry about what others are thinking when you don't react quickly to them. You also want to avoid compulsively checking your messages to ensure no emergency is occurring. 'For any days where you're not working the full day, have a designated person who can field most items and contact you if a true emergency comes up. Prep them on exactly when you want to be contacted,' she writes in Harvard Business Review. Don't leave your work hours undefined on the break. To the extent that you can, determine your work start and stop times in advance for your own sake and those of people travelling with you. 'I recommend frontloading any longer stretches of work while you have momentum from having just left the office, then tapering down so you feel like you can get more and more relaxed throughout your travels,' she says. If you need to commit to fixed meeting times, arrange them for the start of the day because you will have less control of what happens as the day unfolds and delays occur or plans change with the weather or impulse. Finally, resist opening messages on non-urgent, non-critical items. 'To have space in your schedule to relax, you need to do less than you would if you were in the office. If you're travelling but still doing some work, it's tempting to answer a random question, help someone out or otherwise participate in non-urgent work items 'real quick.' But if you want to feel like you took some real time off, you can't engage in everything you typically would in the office,' she warns. Quick Hits Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn't Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.
CBC
5 days ago
- CBC
B.C. port foremen's union and employers ratify 4-year deal
Maritime employers in British Columbia and the union representing port foremen say they have ratified a new four-year collective agreement, after a dispute that saw workers locked out of container terminals last year. The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Ship and Dock Foremen Local 514 said in a joint statement that the new collective agreement extends from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2027. "We look forward to working together to implement the terms of the agreement," the two sides said in the statement. It is the second major labour deal for Canada's West Coast ports that will be in place until March 2027, after an earlier agreement with thousands of port workers that was signed in August 2023 following a strike. WATCH | Lockout initiated by port employers last year: Foremen set to be locked out amid contract dispute at B.C. ports 7 months ago Duration 2:49 Hundreds of foremen in Vancouver and Port Rupert were locked out by their employer, the B.C. Maritime Employers' Association, on Monday afternoon, with the employer calling it a "defensive action" after port workers served 72 hours strike notice. The union says the BCMEA is overreacting. The details of the new deal with supervisors have not been released, and neither the employers association nor the union representing roughly 700 supervisors immediately responded to requests for comment. They had been without a deal since the last accord expired in March 2023. The union had said port automation was a major concern, with supervisors wanting assurances on staffing levels regardless of the technology being used at B.C. ports. The negotiations were contentious at times, with Local 514 filing a complaint against the employers with the Canada Industrial Relations Board alleging direct contact with members during talks. The employers association had called the complaint meritless, noting its offer to the union at the time included a 19.2 per cent wage increase over the four-year term of the deal. The dispute took its most drastic turn on Nov. 4, when employers locked out members of Local 514 in what they called a defensive action. The union had voted to authorize strike action but said at the time that members were only planning partial job actions such as an overtime ban when they were locked out. Container cargo traffic at terminals on the West Coast were halted in the dispute, eventually prompting the federal government to step in on Nov. 12. That was when the federal labour minister at the time, Steven MacKinnon, directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations and move talks to binding arbitration.
