Based on the latest allegations by ACOA, is The Lakes Golf Club a business or merely one of those shell-game enterprises?  

Did the alleged wrongful acts by the directors to strip the key assets of the debt-ridden and insolvent The Ben Eoin Golf Limited (Golf 1) and transfer them to new owners 3324714 Nova Scotia Limited (Golf 2) leave the unsecured debt of the past more unsecured? Plus, did it wipe out any taxpayer equity in the preferred shares quasi-held in trust by ACOA? What did Golf 1 get  from Golf 2 for transferring its assets, as it appears Golf 2 was able to secure a $2,300,000 mortgage to payout a Golf 1 mortgage recorded at $1,230,00 and move forward, as everyone likes to say?  May 28, 2020 was a very busy day at a local law firm.

 At the end of the day, if the decisions by the directors of these companies are considered ‘wrongful acts,’ will their Directors and Officers Insurance bail out the owed-taxpayer and maybe even the Sydney Credit Union, that is assuming the actions were not fraudulent in nature?

If ACOA is successful in its lawsuit, surely the debt/equity ratio of the new company will be out of whack on the mortgage held by Sydney Credit Union. Will they have to call their note?  Is the note personally guaranteed by investors?  This possible shell game, like all shell games, is complicated to say the least.

ACOA notes it sent a strongly-worded letter in 2019 to GOLF 1 board, which appears to this writer to have been ignored in the share-sale process, as there was a requirement to consult with ACOA before the shares could be sold.   

In Mary Campbell’s Cape Breton Spectator April 24, 2019 article - Reading the ECBC/Ben Eoin Golf Club Contract - she wrote; ‘I think it’s also worth mentioning that the sale of the Golf Club seems to be a condition under which ECBC (now ACOA) would be entitled to “payment in full of the par value of any remaining Class “A” Preference Shares” — in other words, to full repayment of any outstanding portion of its $3.5 million loan.’

When one thinks of the responsibilities of being a director of any organization, one might think twice before joining these boards, as directors are truly on the line for negative outcomes of wrongful acts. Being found liable can affect their personal homes, savings, and retirement funds.  

This ACOA lawsuit may affect the lives of the former board members of Golf 1, who according to the registry at the time, were: President Colleen Moore-Hayes, Vice President Vince Mac Gillivary, Treasurer Jerry Redmond, Secretary Denise Gallant, and directors: Jim Burke, David MacLean, Ron Mac Donald, Jeffery Power, Manning Mac Donald, Greg Robertson, and Bernadette Romeo.

According to the registry of Joint Stocks the present day directors of Golf 2 are: Mike Kenny, Troy Wilson, Steve Mac Dougall (not the medical doctor), Siva Thanamayooran (yes, the medical doctor), and Rodney Colbourne.

With all the alleged shenanigans that has gone on at Golf 1 and Golf 2, one has to wonder if the ACOA lawsuit is an earnest effort to get taxpayers money back or is it just more of the same old tactics by different players?

Scott MacLean, Sydney