GFL CEO offers update on shootings, says company is cooperating with police

Patrick Dovigi, founder and CEO of GFL Environmental Inc., said his company is cooperating with Toronto Police following last week's shooting that targeted its north Toronto office.

The waste management company held its third quarter earnings call Thursday morning and Dovigi spoke briefly about the series of violent incidents aimed at the firm in recent months.

He said GFL will not be commenting on any specifics while police investigations are ongoing. 

“While the media like to speculate, we would encourage everyone to allow the authorities to do their work. We are cooperating in the investigation and trust that the authorities will bring them to a successful resolution hopefully in the near term,” he said.

The Toronto Police Services (TPS) confirmed to TorontoToday that “yes we are speaking with GFL.”

GFL has been providing garbage pickup in the city’s west end since 2012, when then-mayor Rob Ford privatized the service.

The firm has been in the headlines since shots were fired outside two of its executives’ Toronto homes in late September, including Dovigi's house in Rosedale.

TPS believes those shootings are linked to the more recent shooting at the company's office on Weston Road near Finch Avenue.

Last month, the Globe and Mail reported GFL and sister company Green Infrastructure Partners' equipment was also hit by three separate arson attacks over a nine-day period this summer.

On the earnings call, Dovigi said GFL is “working with third-party security consultants to review our security measures and any additional precautions we should be taking.”

He assured shareholders the security incidents will not “derail or distract us from continuing to drive our business forward.”

Additionally, Dovigi gave an update on the proposed sale of GFL’s environmental services division, saying he is “confident that a transaction equal or greater to what we have previously suggested can be signed and announced” before GFL’s annual report is released in February. 

That sale is expected to net $6 billion.

Dovigi, who grew up in the Sault, said the proceeds will allow the company to pay off over $3.5 billion of debt.