And Judge James Burrill noted that while Anderson has said he was shocked when the RCMP showed up at his door to charge him, he really shouldn’t have been shocked at all.
“You cannot make up your own rules and do what you think is best,” not when you clearly know that are breaking the rules, the judge said.
In following the recommendation from the Crown, the judge sentenced Anderson – who had previously entered a guilty plea to a charge of uttering forged documents – to a one-year conditional sentence.
The first four months of this sentence will be served under house arrest – although there are many common court exceptions that allow Anderson to be away from his home, including for employment purposes.
The next four months Anderson will have to abide by an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. Other court conditions he must abide by and 240 hours of community service are also part of the sentence.
The charge Anderson was sentenced on stemmed from documents, which were certified by Anderson while he was SWSDA CEO, that had been submitted to ACOA for repayment on numerous occasions dealing with three projects: a community centre and theatre at Ecole Par-en-Bas, a Shelburne tourism project and phase 2 of an Acadian development project.
During a period that spanned from April 16, 2009 to April 24, 2010, several repayment forms totalling $426,960.59 were submitted to ACOA. There was just one problem. While the work for the projects had been authorized and carried out, the suppliers who conducted the work had not been paid. But the forms Anderson submitted indicated they had been.
As a result, ACOA reimbursed its funding share of the projects to SWSDA, which amounted to $131,080.48.
The court was told Anderson did not personally benefit financially from this. Had he, the judge said, “we’d be talking about how long he was going to jail for.”
Rather the money went into the general operations of SWSDA as Anderson tried to keep the development authority afloat during a time of severe cash flow problems.
He did this, the court was told, believing the provincial government was going to come through with funding of $500,000, which would pay the suppliers.
But that money didn’t materialize. And after an ombudsman report and a forensic audit, the matter was referred to the RCMP and charges were eventually laid.
By then SWSDA had ceased operations, going belly up in June 2010 – at the time owing around $2.3 million to creditors.
Like Anderson’s lawyer Donald Presse has repeated again and again during this sentencing procedure, the judge acknowledged that Anderson did what he thought was right for the community by trying to keep the development authority afloat.
But, he said, what he did was illegal.
And it is also ironic, the judge said, that Anderson’s actions likely contributed to SWSDA’s demise.
It also, he said, put suppliers at risk.
The Crown had listed seven suppliers and contractors that, at the time, did not receive payment for their work. The list included an accounting firm, sign companies, a tourism company and others. The unpaid work ranged from roughly $600 to around $55,000. The largest company out of pocket was Garian Construction, which was owed $344,508. Last fall Garian settled a lawsuit with SWSDA parties. The out-of-court settlement contained a confidentiality agreement.
While the judge accepted that Anderson is remorseful and regretful about what took place, he also said in his sentencing remarks it was difficult to assess whether that regret was a result of the court prosecution or his moral conscience.
There was what the judge called a positive pre-sentence report filed with the court, along with many letters of support from members of the community, including some people who would have been victims of this crime.
In making his decision on a sentence, Judge Burrill said the conditional discharge being sought by the defence – which would have left Anderson with no conviction – was not an appropriate sentence because it didn’t deliver a strong enough message to the community that these types of actions are not acceptable, no matter the intention driving them.
He called what Anderson did a breach of trust.
