CBRM councillor calls on update of former mayor’s financial irregularities

Questions about a former Cape Breton Regional Municipality mayor’s expenses are now in the spotlight, less than a week after the head of the IWK was sentenced for defrauding a Halifax hospital.

CBRM Coun. Kim Sheppard-Campbell is calling for an update on the financial irregularities attributed to former Mayor Amanda McDougall.

One year ago, an independent investigator found McDougall used a municipal credit card to rack up $17,000 of personal expenses.

Although she did pay those expenses back, CBRM council voted unanimously for a police-led investigation, which was ultimately put into the hands of the RCMP.

Sheppard-Campbell says since former IWK CEO Tracy Kitch was sentenced to nine months in jail last week for racking up more than $30,000 on a corporate credit card, she has had constituents calling her asking for an update on McDougall.

“We have to stop people from being in high positions just being entitled to do anything when it comes to public funds,” says Sheppard-Campbell. “So I would like to see it on public record.”

She says she will speak with CBRM’s legal department this week to get an update on McDougall’s case, but adds she doesn’t want the former mayor to see jail time.

“I respected her as a person and as a public image for us in CBRM,” says Sheppard-Campbell. “What happened was unfortunate, but it did happen, so I think, as I said, we need to see it recorded.”

Sheppard-Campbell said that before Kitch was sentenced last week, she did request an update on McDougall’s investigation to be placed on the agenda of an upcoming council meeting, but that request was denied.

“The reason I asked was because I had it in my head that it was date marked; a year (ago) so that’s when I was going to ask for this,” she says. “I was given the response that it had really no place to be on the public agenda right now until we had more from the RCMP.”