Letters to Ian Worland, Tax Lawyer & Former Chair of the Board of Governors of Quest University

 Ian Worland, a tax lawyer, based in Vancouver, was the Chair of the Board of Governors of Quest University over a period of nine years, from 2008 until 2017.

While Chair of Quest's board, Mr. Worland signed several documents that are crucial to Quest's financial history. Among these are:

• 2008 Transfer of Parcel A to Stewart & Marilyn Blusson Foundation
• 2011 Global Charity Fund Funding Agreement
• 2012 $65 Million Debt to Stewart Blusson (Mortgage Loan)
• 2014 Consolidation of Loans from Global Charity Fund into a $20 Million Mortgage Loan from Foundation for Public Good
• 2016 Transfer of Mortgage Loan from Foundation for Public Good to CHIMP

These documents and the transactions that they pertain to raise a series of questions about the debt and mortgage loan on which Quest defaulted, leading ultimately to the sale and closure of the university.

Since Quest was sold in 2020, and subsequently closed, several CRA audit reports have been released (AAS, EDF, HSEF,  HSSF & Timothy Foundation). These CRA reports provide previously unavailable information that raises questions about the loans that led to Quest's downfall. In particular, these audit reports reveal that Stewart Blusson, Quest's purported benefactor, never did make true charitable gifts for $100 million towards Quest, nor did he make true gifts for anywhere near that amount.  Instead, in a complex series of transactions, Blusson got back the shares in his mining companies that he had supposedly "donated" without paying to buy them back. For an example of CRA's explanation of these transactions, click here.

During 2020, I tried to unsuccessfully to contact Ian Worland. In 2023, when Quest announced that it was closing, I tried again to contact Mr. Worland via LinkedIn.

In February of 2024, once I had learned that Stewart Blusson is the beneficial owner of most of the remaining sections of Quest's original land, I sent a detailed letter to Mr. Worland.

Among my key questions to Mr. Worland are the following:

1. Purported $100 Million from Stewart Blusson

• • When, if ever, did Quest’s Board of Governors become aware that Stewart Blusson’s purported gift of $100 million was not a true gift? Once aware, what steps, if any, did the Board of Governors take to inform students, staff, and the general public that the story that had been told about Blusson’s purported $100 million gift was not true?

2. Parcel A & Lot 12

• • Why did Quest’s purported benefactor, Stewart Blusson, end up with the beneficial ownership of Parcel A and Lot 12?

•  3. $24.5 Million Paid to CHIMP 
  • Why did Charitable Impact Foundation ("CHIMP"), a charity run by Blake Bromley’s son, end up with $24.5 million from Quest’s sale?
  • CHIMP has paid $79 million (2011-2023) to CHIMP Technology Inc., a private company owned by Blake & John Bromley. Does the $79 million include the $24.5 million from Quest's sale, or part of it? If so, this would mean that money from Quest's sale, potentially millions of dollars, ended up in a private company owned by Quest’s fundraiser, a former member of Quest’s Board of Governors, and his son. If true, this warrants explanation.

4. Global Charity Fund Loans

In 2011, Quest began to take loans from Global Charity Fund (“GCF”), a charity run by Blake Bromley, Quest's original fundraiser. By 2014, Quest had eight loans from GCF for a total of $15,450,000 at interest rates of between 5% and 9%. These loans were consolidated into a mortgage loan on which Quest ultimately defaulted, resulting in Quest's sale and eventual closure.

• • Loans, not Gifts - In 2011, GCF reported tax-receipted gifts for $70 million. If GCF truly received $70 million, why did Quest get high-interest loans? If GCF truly received $70 million, why didn't Quest receive gifts?
  • Bank or Credit Union - With steadily increasing revenue, why didn’t Quest get a loan from a bank? Of all the possible lenders, why Global Charity Fund?
  • Origin of Loan Money - What is the origin of the loan money that Quest received via Global Charity Fund? Was it effectively Stewart Blusson’s money that was loaned to Quest, enabling Blusson to earn millions of dollars of interest from Quest?

            NOTE: One of the funny things about the "gift" of $70,000,000 to Global Charity Fund is that it is recorded in CRA's digital database as $70,000, not $70,000,000. This is one of at least ten cases in which large gifts made by the Bromley charities are recorded incorrectly in CRA's digital database. In all cases, the error is the same; the last three digits are missing such that a very large gift, in the millions, is recorded as being only in the thousands.

5. Association for the Advancement of Scholarship (“AAS”)

AAS was founded by the late Dr. David Strangway, Quest’s founder, and purportedly received $30 million from Stewart Blusson. However, it is important to note that before AAS issued the tax receipt to Blusson for $30 million, Dr. Strangway had left AAS's board of directors.

In a letter to Macleans magazine, Dr. Strangway expressed that he felt let down by how Quest's start-up had been handled. He appears to have been especially disappointed by Quest's fundraiser, Blake Bromley who apparently charged an 8 percent fee.

During 2014 and 2015, AAS made gifts to CHIMP and other Bromley charities for a total of $15,450,000, precisely the same amount of Quest's loans to that point.

• • Why did AAS make gifts to CHIMP and Bromley’s other charities rather than to Quest?
  • Is it just a coincidence that the amounts match? Did AAS’s gifts consist of notes receivable on Quest’s loans?
  • In 2014, AAS paid a commission for $3 million. To whom was this paid and why?