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NWAG's CEO Robert Talbot's Assets Seized by Revenue Canada

From the Edmonton Journal:

August 23, 1997

Health-care entrepreneurs' assets seized

ASHLEY GEDDES Journal Staff Writer

DEVON - A couple known for its entrepreneurial efforts to establish private health facilities in the province has had its household assets seized by Revenue Canada for non-payment of $420,000 in taxes. Bailiffs with RCMP escorts showed up without warning at the couple's acreage home just south of Edmonton both Wednesday and Thursday evenings, confirmed lawyers representing Hotel De Health president Dr. Page Edgar and her husband Robert Talbot, president of Hotel De Health's parent company.

After arriving home from vacation, the couple and their children watched as the two cars plus most of their furniture and other household items were seized and loaded on trucks at the family's Devon Ridge Estates home.

The tax debts, not related to Hotel De Health, were incurred between 1988 and 1992, said Gordon Flynn, a tax lawyer who represents the couple on income tax matters.

The debts stemmed from Edgar's medical practice and Talbot's involvement with an Ontario company as a director in the 1980s, according to another legal adviser to the couple. "It's a civil collection matter," said Flynn. "I understand police were at the seizure as well just to ensure order was maintained."

Revenue Canada spokesperson Ron Quinn said he couldn't discuss details of individual cases.

"But I can confirm that bailiffs were acting on the instructions of Revenue Canada," Quinn added. "It was seizure on personal assets."

Writ-of-enforcement documents filed with property registries by Revenue Canada Taxation showed outstanding tax bill claims against Edgar amounting to $270,000, plus another $150,000 against Talbot.

The seized goods will be sold at a public auction and the proceeds will be applied to the debts, said Quinn.

Friends and business associates of the couple say they were close to closing a sales deal on their acreage home and planned to move into a house in Edmonton at the end of the month.

The home wasn't seized but the bailiffs reportedly took practically everything but the bedroom furniture.

The couple's four children - ages 10 to 19 - sat on their beds and watched as everything from furniture to stuffed toys, paperback novels and a bird cage were carried out of the house and loaded onto a truck Thursday night.

Documents filed with Alberta Registries show that the previous night a 1990 Pontiac Bonneville and a 1988 Chrysler Dynasty were seized at the same address, along with two lawn mowers, a bird bath, a lawn ornament, a children's picnic table and an extension cord.

"It was horrible," said one source close to the couple. "They (bailiffs) cleared the place out."

The couple couldn't be reached for comment.

One employee at the Hotel De Health office in Edmonton said Talbot was "too mad" to speak to a reporter while Edgar is "in shock."

Flynn questioned why there was no advance notification of the seizure.

He said Talbot was extremely upset that an ITV camera person was at the scene when the goods were being loaded on the truck Thursday night.

"It's somewhat suspicious," said Flynn, questioning how the station got tipped off about the seizure. "We have concern about it and will be investigating any breach of confidentiality by Revenue Canada."

But Quinn said Revenue Canada did not alert the TV station. Hotel De Health, a consortium of medical specialists, has proposed leasing space in three rural hospitals to offer specialized medical services to Americans at lower prices than they pay at home.

The company at was also linked with an aborted plan to lease a downtown Edmonton inn and turn it into a short-term health facility.

- Edmonton Journal