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The home of Patrick Dovigi, CEO of waste giant GFL Environmental, was attacked in September, 2024.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The man accused of co-ordinating shooting attacks on the homes of two executives tied to Canadian waste giant GFL Environmental Inc. has had the charges against him stayed by the Crown.
Court records show that the case against Ilan Philosophe – the founder of Astro Excavating Inc. and its offshoot company, Astro Shoring Inc. – was stayed on Thursday.
A stay of proceedings means that the prosecution has halted charges against an accused. The Crown has one year to revive the case before the pause becomes permanent.
Mr. Philosophe’s lawyer, Margaret Bojanowska, did not respond to a request for comment.
In April, the Toronto police guns and gangs unit arrested Mr. Philosophe and charged him with firearms offences and two counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence in connection to twin attacks on the Toronto homes of GFL chief executive officer Patrick Dovigi, and businessman Ted Manziaris, who works with GFL’s sister construction company, Green Infrastructure Partners Inc.
The shootings occurred within the span of about an hour in late September, 2024. In both instances, an unknown gunman – who police believe is part of a wider shooter-for-hire network that’s been operating in the Greater Toronto Area – opened fire on the executives’ homes.
While no one was injured in the shootings, which occurred around midnight, the violence has rattled the company.
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Ilan Philosophe, the founder of Astro Excavating and Astro Shoring.
The incidents are part of a string of firearm and arson attacks against GFL and GIP-connected properties and equipment that have occurred over the past two years.
Mr. Philosophe was only charged in connection to the two executive home incidents. He was released on bail shortly after his arrest.
While Astro is a smaller player in the industry, the company competes for some of the same work as GIP.
The once collegial business relationship between the two companies has soured in recent years.
In April, 2025, Mr. Philosophe was charged with criminal harassment after he allegedly sent a series of taunting and often vulgar text messages to a GIP official.
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Court records previously obtained by The Globe and Mail allege that Mr. Philosophe had been sending “disturbing texts” to some GIP executives for more than a year – some of which referenced the shooting attacks.
The Globe, which has been reporting on the attacks on GFL and GIP, did a series of interviews with Mr. Philosophe after his criminal-harassment charge, but before he was arrested in connection to the executive homes’ shootings.
In those conversations, the now 43-year-old entrepreneur acknowledged sending GIP employees rude text messages – he called it a poor decision that he regrets – but he categorically denied having anything to do with the violence.
“I have absolutely nothing to do with any of this, attacks or anything, on GFL. That’s 100 per cent,” Mr. Philosophe said in one interview.
In his telling, he and Astro have been the victims of a GFL-led bullying campaign. (Mr. Philosophe refers to GFL and GIP interchangeably.)
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Speaking to The Globe, the Astro founder alleged that after he refused to sell his company to GFL, the industry Goliath began spreading rumours about him and his company. (GFL vehemently denies this and also denies that any offer was made to buy Astro.)
In response to questions from The Globe about the stayed charges, Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer linked Mr. Philosophe’s case to other investigations tied to the attacks on GFL.
“There are a few ongoing investigations in relation to damage and violence towards GFL property and employees. Evidence seized in relation to these matters may be relevant to Mr. Philosophe’s case,” she said in an e-mail.
“As it will take some time to process that evidence, it was deemed prudent to suspend this matter until the investigations have been completed.”