Thursday, April 30, 2009

SWSDA Board Members Personally Liable

-------- Your tax dollars at work ---------

This is a public service blog to ensure Directors of SWSDA know their legal obligations.

The taxman giveth and the taxman can taketh away....

..... A few years ago Revenue Canada did an audit of SWSDA's HST accounts and discovered the taxman had been short-changed between April 1, 2003 and November 30, 2004 by $156,889. SWSDA has now repaid that amount to the taxman but it appears SWSDA Board members may not have known that until it was paid off, they were each personally liable for this debt to the federal coffers!

I didn't know! Not a defence that'll work if you never tried to find out!

Under other federal and provincial statutes, directors also face personal liability for environmental offences, wages and source deductions from payrolls, among other things.

Why Directors are made Liable...

The theory behind the imposition of directors’ personal liability is that the risk of being found liable will make directors more attentive to their legal obligations in managing the corporation. It is felt directors will be prompted to become more active in monitoring corporate compliance with the statutory requirements. Moreover, where a corporation has violated a statutory requirement, the liability of directors provides a means of punishing that violation.

There are basically three ways in which statutes impose liability on directors. In one, liability is imposed whether or not the director intended to commit the offence or even knew that the offence had been committed. In another, liability is imposed on directors unless they are diligent; that is, a "due diligence" defence allows directors to avoid liability where they have taken appropriate steps and instituted procedures. In the third way, liability is imposed on directors who "authorized, permitted or acquiesced in the commission of the offence by the corporation."

For more information about how Directors can protect themselves from personal liability see...
http://www.fmc-law.com/upload/en/publications/2009/568_FMC_CCCA_Conference_Article_v2.pdf

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for allowing the citizens of the area to see in detail what Anderson has been allowed to get away with all of these years.

When I first read of what appears to be his corrupt practices, I took it with a grain of salt, not knowing the webmaster of SC Today. Over time I came to realize the local paper wasn't doing its job, and the Herald appeared to be part of the cover-up.

Perfect timing for your site to appear, with an upcoming election. All the best in your future "dealings" with SWSDA!

Fred said...

I figure there is a lot more facts hidden here than just expense accounts, I figure millions are unaccounted for. This should be dug up by the NDP, if they are on the level and really care about what happens around here. This SWSDA has done nothing for the area.

Anonymous said...

SWSDA has too many secrets.

Anonymous said...

I know from our attempt at sourcing SWSDA funding for the CLyde River Sawmill Heritage Project that politics were at work to cutoff funding.
It is sad and unfortunate that "low lifes" can be put in such vital positions.
This adveresely effects the lives of the residents of Shelburne County from which there will be no regaining the opportunities lost.

Anonymous said...

It is unfortunate that the Heritage Project in Clyde River wasn't able to secure funding. What an interesting project it would have been, and just what we need to encourage our summer visitors to stop and visit Shelburne Co. for a break during their time in the province.

We are all upset with the actions of this dysfunctional development agency, which in fact appears to be the "Hurlburt and Anderson Screw Shelburne Co. Project", but after emailing Municipal leaders, Ministers of various depts, and on and on, what is a concerned citizen to do?

We can thank Timothy Gillespie and Mr. Cayer for letting us see the expenses Frank claimed for 05/06 - heavens knows what was redacted. This is really unbelievable in this day and age - I figured there were enough watchdogs around to keep this from happening. Was I wrong!