iMarketing gets more creditor protection
Call-centre company was used by federal Tories
The call-centre company credited with helping the Conservative Party win power has been given an extension on protection from its creditors.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has agreed to give iMarketing Solutions GroupInc., which owns the votercontact firm RMG, another 60 days of protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
The cash-strapped firm filed for protection in Canada and the U.S. in April, citing a downturn in its political and charity fundraising work. It laid off 480 callcentre employees.
The CCAA protection was due to end this month, but in court filings the company said it needs more time to secure new investors or potential buyers as it restructures. The court has agreed to extend protection until Oct. 4.
IMSGI chief executive Andrew Langhorne said in an affidavit that the company is attracting new clients and exceeding its projections for billable calling hours.
In an emailed statement, Langhorne said the company has been turning a profit since the restructuring began.
“All of our contact centres are actively recruiting additional staff to meet client demand,” he wrote.
The company’s political calling wing, RMG, was a key part of the Conservative Party’s fundraising and electoral machine. It made millions of calls to voters on behalf of the party during the last federal election to identify supporters and get them to polls.
The company’s phone banks tap into the party’s sophisticated Constituent Information Management System (CIMS) to track voting intent and solicit donations from potential supporters.
The use of phone-banking in concert with voter-tracking data has helped the Conservatives outpace other parties’ fundraising efforts by soliciting smaller amounts from a larger number of donors, giving the party a deep war chest with which to fund advertising outside of election periods.
IMSGI’s financials are being watched closely by other firms in the intensely competitive phone-bank business that would love to scoop up the Conservatives’ fundraising business.
But Langhorne said the firm has had “multiple proposals” as it sought new investment which will allow “ongoing operation of the business.”
RMG worked on behalf of more than 90 Conservative candidates’ campaigns in 2011 and also did calling on behalf of the party’s national campaign, as well as other conservative provincial political parties.
But RMG’s involvement in the campaign also drew scrutiny during the robocalls scandal after one former employee of its Thunder Bay office alleged that she and other call-centre workers had made questionable calls telling voters about their polling stations.
Langhorne gave evidence in a federal-court case last year, explaining that it contacted only identified Conservative supporters when passing on information about polling locations.