A BC Supreme Court judge approved the sale of Garibaldi at Squamish this week after a lengthy legal process where the province stepped in to oppose the transaction.
The new owners now have 12 months to complete the pre-construction requirements outlined in the project’s conditional environmental approval — a task estimated to cost more than $5 million.
If those tasks are not completed by the January 2026 deadline, Garibaldi at Squamish will face losing its Environmental Assessment Certificate, preventing the dream from becoming a reality.
The province’s approval conditions include identifying water supplies for the proposed ski resort, evaluating and protecting the impact on the aquatic environment, including consulting with the Squamish Nation and developing plans for biodiversity, ecosystem, snowmaking reservoir, dam failure, old growth strategy, waste management, employee housing, transport, recreation sites and trails, and air quality.
The conditional approval was granted in 2016, and the deadline has already been extended once by five years, according to the decision posted online this week.
Garibaldi at Squamish must also get its Master Plan approved by the province to start construction. Those close to the plan informed the judge that the plan was “substantially completed.” It incorporates Squamish Nation tourism and continues consultation with the nation.
“Construction has yet to get underway since the pre-conditions called for in the EA Certificate have yet to be satisfied. Only some work on the pre-conditions is underway. No actual work on the project lands to satisfy those conditions has been done,” the decision read.
It’s a tight deadline, and it’s complicated by the project’s insolvency. The project owed more than $80 million to its lenders and wasn’t generating any revenue. Its assets include plans for the proposed 2,800-hectare ski resort on Brohm Ridge and the province’s conditional environmental approval.
The project began insolvency proceedings late last year, and the BC Supreme Court judge allowed it to be sold to Aquilini LP, Garibaldi Resort Management Company Ltd., and a numbered company by way of a Reverse Vesting Order (RVO), which is an unusual method of asset transfer.
The province came to court to oppose the sale last month, arguing an RVO shouldn’t be used. However, Justice Paul Walker wrote that he considered alternative methods and decided they all would take too long because they would seriously jeopardize the new owners’ ability to meet the environmental assessment deadline to start construction.
In the end, the judge approved the sale of Garibaldi at Squamish.
The new owners submitted a Stalking Horse Bid of $80 million, which was reduced by $20 million in the final proceedings.
It’s still not known if the proposed ski resort will be built. The new owners have their work cut out to meet the January 2026 deadline to fulfill the environmental requirements, get provincial approval, and start construction.