Some careers are built on numbers. Others, on policy. Glenn Steiner’s is built on caring for people.
As a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT) with Allan Marshall & Associates, Glenn has spent decades helping Canadians overcome debt and move into more stable futures. But what truly sets him apart isn’t just his expertise—it’s his empathy.
In a candid and deeply personal conversation, Glenn shared the client story that changed him, how he balances professionalism with heart, and why financial education is one of the most powerful tools we can offer our communities.
A Stormy Night, a Desperate Call, and a Life Changed
Glenn remembers the urgent call from a family in crisis. Their small business stood on the edge of collapse, under legal pressure from the Canada Revenue Agency. The stress had grown so severe that it threatened not only their livelihood but also the family’s emotional well-being.
“They were in Red Deer, and I was driving home from Calgary,” Glenn shares. “It was a vicious storm. But I told them I’d meet them at a local Tim Hortons.”
There, they sat for over 90 minutes. Glenn listened. He asked questions. He laid out a plan. By the end of the night, the family was no longer in tears—they now had hope.
Two months later, Glenn received a handwritten thank-you letter from the grandmother of the family on the husband’s side. “You saved my son’s life,” she wrote.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” Glenn says. “Today, that man is thriving. His relationship with his daughter is stronger. That story will never leave me.”
Success Starts With Listening
The story is a case study of what success looks like for Glenn. It’s not about the number of cases closed. It’s about the people who come through the process stronger, lighter, and more empowered.
“When clients succeed, we succeed,” Glenn says. “That’s our mission.”
He begins every consultation the same way: by listening. Not just to the numbers, but to the full story. He makes space for fears, questions, and emotions. And then he offers options, not pressure.
“I always tell people: you don’t have to decide today. Go home, think about it, talk to your family. There’s no such thing as a stupid question.”
It’s this balance of compassion and professionalism that helps people move from fear to confidence.
Compassion Within the Rules
While Glenn is known for his warmth, he’s also deeply committed to transparency and integrity.
“You can’t just look the other way,” he says. “If someone asks me to ignore a tax-free savings account, I won’t do it. We need full disclosure.”
It’s not about being rigid. It’s about being honest. Glenn spent 15 years with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, ensuring other trustees followed the law. Today, he brings that same standard into his own work.
“We can be empathetic while still respecting the rules,” he says. “That’s how we protect both the debtor and the creditor.”
Budgeting Isn’t Glamorous, but It Works
As part of every Bankruptcy or Consumer Proposal, clients attend two mandatory financial counselling sessions. Glenn sees these as critical moments for long-term success.
“I wish our school system taught more about money,” he says. “So many people never learned how to manage finances, because their parents didn’t either.”
He emphasizes simple, powerful debt help tools. “I had one family of four track their spending. They discovered they were spending $750 a month on eating out five years ago. That’s like a car payment.”
When the family protested, Glenn gently reframed the issue.
“Life is about planning and consequences. If you’ve got spaghetti and sauce in the pantry, you’ve got dinner.”
Building Financial Literacy, One Community at a Time
Outside the consultation room, Glenn brings his expertise to accountants, lawyers, and small business owners across Alberta. He speaks at professional events, legal conferences, and accounting associations to demystify insolvency law and make sure professionals can help their clients early. “Many business owners are incredible at what they do—electricians, contractors—but they struggle with payroll, taxes, and GST,” he explains.
His message remains consistent: there is help, and it’s closer than you think.
“Our website is wecanhelp.ca for a reason.”
Giving Back
Glenn doesn’t reserve his compassion for business hours. He’s an active volunteer with the Kinsmen Club of St. Albert, where he raises funds to support shelters, build playgrounds, and meet urgent community needs.
He’s especially proud of their work with safe housing initiatives that offer refuge to individuals fleeing domestic violence.
“Helping people is what fills my heart,” Glenn says. “In and out of the office.”
“Bad Things Happen to Good People”
To anyone feeling ashamed, overwhelmed, or alone in their financial situation, Glenn has one message:
“Please don’t give up. You’re not a bad person. Bad things happen to good people. And there is always a solution.”
Whether it’s a Bankruptcy, a Consumer Proposal, refinancing, or family support, the path forward begins with asking for help.
“Bankruptcy is not the end,” Glenn says. “It’s the beginning of a fresh start for an honest but unfortunate debtor. That’s the spirit of what we do.”
Listen to Client Stories, Financial Education & Building Trust Through Compassion
Read the Transcript
Wayne Kelly: I would love to ask you about a client story that has stuck with you that you think back to.
Glenn: Well, that’s a very good question. It’s very prevalent in my mind. I’ll remember last winter. I was in Calgary seeing clients in Calgary, and then I had to drive back to Edmonton where I live, and I had a call from a couple who were in panic mode. The guy’s company was being threatened with legal action by CRA. They were going to shut him down. He was almost in tears. His mother called me and said, “Is there any way that we could meet you?” And I said, “Well, as a matter of fact,” they lived in the Red Deer area. And I said, “As a matter of fact, I’m driving home from Calgary tonight.
I can stop in Red Deer and meet you.” And so I met them at a local Tim Hortons. We chatted. The guy was almost in tears. He just had no hope. He felt there was no hope. And I sat down with him for probably an hour and a half just talking, understanding his story, told him how we could fix this. And at the end of the day, by the time that evening was over, they were so gratefully happy that they met with me. And about two months later, I received a thank-you note from his mother saying, “Thank you for meeting us. You came through a storm. It was ugly that night. It was a vicious storm and you came through and you met with us and you know what? You saved my son’s life.” Well, that just brought tears to my eyes. I thought, my God, that is—she didn’t have to do that, but she did it. And it made me feel so good because it was so rewarding. And that man now today has got back on his feet and he’s thriving.
And that just makes my heart so great and warm. He had a daughter who was acting up because he was under so much stress. He wasn’t being the dad that she wanted him to be. And now that I got rid of this crushing burden of debt off his back, he’s thriving. He tells me that his relationship with his daughter is blooming. You have no idea what that does to my soul. It just makes me so happy to see somebody like that and so thankful as a family. It will never leave my body. It was so touching.
Wayne Kelly: What do you find the most rewarding about what you do?
Glenn: Well, just what I just said, one of the most rewarding things is seeing people succeed. When they succeed, we succeed as a company. And we want to make sure that they listen, that they understand. And one of the things that I always tell people, I only have one rule. And my rule is there’s no such thing as a stupid question.
So, you know, you need to ask these questions because I’m not a mind reader. I want to be able to steer you down the right path. And if you follow that path, you will succeed. And when you succeed, you’re going to tell other people, “This Glenn Steiner guy did a good job. He steered me in the right direction.” You might want to call him.
Wayne Kelly: So, Glenn, you’re kind of the guy who’s known as being very empathetic in the business. How do you balance that with also being professional?
Glenn: Well, it is a balancing act. There’s definitely no doubt about it. But at the end of the day, as I said, you need to be empathetic, but you also have to follow the rules. If you follow down a wrong path and you’re too empathetic, you want to make sure that you’re not compromising the rules or the regulations that you are expected to follow as a Licensed Insolvency Trustee. So, I’ve had people say, “Well, can’t you just look the other way and ignore this tax-free savings account?” And the answer is, I’m sorry, we have to disclose it.
How we deal with it and how the creditors want you to deal with it, we’ll talk about that. But I can’t just shuffle this under the rug and say you didn’t have it. That’s not my style. We need to make sure that we have full disclosure and transparency. I spent 15 years with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy making sure that trustees comply with the act, and that’s what I plan to continue to do in my career in the private sector.
Wayne Kelly: When a lot of clients come in and see you for the very first time, you know, they’re weary, they don’t know exactly who to turn to. How do you go about building trust with them?
Glenn: Well, again, it’s all about listening and making sure that they’re heard. Listen to their story, get all the facts, and then tell them, “Here are some options.” And again, we’re not there to make their decisions. We’re there to explain their options and then they think about it. And again, I’ve said this previously.
I tell people, you need to process this in your own time frame. I don’t want you to make a snap decision today. Think it over. Make sure that you’ve thought it through. And if this option works where you need to do a bankruptcy, we’ll do a bankruptcy. If that doesn’t really suit you and you want to file a consumer proposal, we’ll file a consumer proposal. So, that’s kind of the things that I look at.
Wayne Kelly: You mentioned that sometimes this can happen to people once, twice, even three times. Why don’t we talk about financial education and how important that is after the fact?
Glenn: Well, as most people who do some research and they’ll read online some information about how the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act works and financial literacy is very, very important. I wish that the schooling system would teach people a little bit more about money or children, because I find that a lot of times the people that we see, their parents went bankrupt and they didn’t know how to manage their money, and so their children didn’t learn from their parents. And so we need educational literacy. And part of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, there’s a mandatory two financial counseling sessions that you have to go through.
And when you go through these sessions, pay attention. Listen to what we’re telling you. If you follow those directions, it will lead you to nothing but success. One of the things that I always tell people when they call me is it’s a great idea to track your expenses on a daily basis. Even if you buy a chocolate bar at the dollar store for a dollar, write it in a piece of paper or a scribbler. And then at the end of the month, how much did I spend on eating out? How much did I spend on my cell phone, on food and groceries, etc.? I had a couple that I was doing a counseling session for. They were a family of four. And I said to them, “Did you track your expenses like I asked you to do when I first met with you?” And they said, “Yeah.” I said, “Okay, well, did you get any surprises?” And they kind of looked at me and they both smirked and they said, “Well, kind of.” And I said, “Well, tell me about it.”
“What happened?” They said, “Well, we kind of thought we didn’t spend as much money as we do on eating out.” And I said, “Well, how much did you spend?” And the answer was $750 a month. And that was well over five years ago. And so I said to them, “You know, this is like an average family car payment. Like, you need to stop this. This is a lot of money.” And of course, they kind of became defensive and said, “Well, we don’t get home till 5:40. And by the time we have to cook something, well, it’s quicker to order in a pizza or whatever.” And I said, “You know, that’s kind of a cop-out. At the end of the day, we all have choices. And life is all about planning and consequences. When you do that and you take that kind of attitude where it’s quicker to order pizza, you know what? If you had some spaghetti in the pantry and you had a jar of PGO, you can have that whipped up in no time, and it’s a heck of a lot quicker than ordering in a pizza.”
So, life’s all about choices. And when you’re spending that kind of money on eating out, that’s not a good thing.
Wayne Kelly: I love the simplicity—that it doesn’t have to be complex. It’s a pen and a paper and marking it down and tracking
Glenn: Yeah.
Wayne Kelly: what’s happening can—
Glenn: Yeah.
Wayne Kelly: lead you to success financially.
Glenn: Well, exactly. And if I had a dollar for every time I heard, “You know, I don’t know where the hell all my money went.” Well, here’s your answer. Write it down. And then, you know, and then when you see that you see something you don’t like, you have the power to choose to change it.
Wayne Kelly: Glenn, what kind of community outreach does the company do?
Glenn: Well, one of the things that I do is I try to look at associations that people need to get information out there. I was asked to speak at the law conference—annual conference—last—two years ago, I guess it was now. And it’s a—we discussed—we had a whole room of lawyers in a hotel and I gave Bankruptcy 101 to all these lawyers. Lawyers are all well-rounded and they know their stuff, but bankruptcy law is very specialized. And that’s what we do, of course, as bankruptcy trustees, is apply the Bankruptcy Insolvency Act and the laws that go around it.
And one of the things is I do work with lawyers. I also reached out with a bunch of accountants. I presented a session to a bunch of accountants because accountants often deal with corporations where—you know what—we have so many wonderful electricians out there. They’re the best electricians out there, but they’re not very good businessmen. They don’t know how to work with the CRA. They don’t understand payroll. They don’t understand GST. And if they don’t have a good bookkeeper and accountant, and they’re trying to do it on their own, suddenly, all of a sudden, they’re getting threatened from CRA to shut down. And then they call the accountant, and the accountant says, “Oh my God, you owe $80,000 in corporate taxes, and you owe $40,000 in payroll taxes, and you owe $25,000 in GST.” The guy is a great electrician, but he’s not maybe good at doing business work. And so I’ve reached out to a lot of the companies that are involved in an association of accounting and give presentations. And that’s kind of trying to get the word out there that, you know, a lot of people think there’s no hope, and there is hope, and there is help out there, and we’re able to help. That’s why our motto is WeCanHelp.ca is our website.
Wayne Kelly: Outside of work, what does Glenn the man do to keep you grounded?
Glenn: Well, I am very much a family man. I very much try to do a balanced work life. I am a member of the Kinsman Club of Alberta—or Kinsman Club of St. Albert, actually. I volunteer my work. We do community work that helps the greatest needs. And, you know, we do fundraisers. We help build playgrounds. And we help donate to organizations like the Safe House in St. Albert where women or men are getting beaten, and we provide a safe haven for them where we fund the housing of that program. And it gives me great pleasure to see my volunteer work raising money to help people that need help, that they can’t help themselves because of their circumstances.
Wayne Kelly: So, even outside of work, you’re there helping people.
Glenn: I’m always out there helping people. I love helping people.
Wayne Kelly: What message do you want people to hear who are struggling with debt right now?
Glenn: Well, I want them to know that there’s always a solution. Whether it’s bankruptcy, proposal, refinancing, borrowing money from family and friends, there’s always hope. Please don’t give up. Don’t think that you’re a bad person. I’ve always told people bad things do happen to good people. And a lot of times, that is so true in life. People—because of whatever circumstances—brought them through our doors. It’s really no fault of their own. And I go back to my motto: Bankruptcy is all about giving an honest but unfortunate debtor a fresh start. And that’s what we’re there to do for them.
