Disgraced lawyer accused of mismanaging Antigonish trailer parks

A former president of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party who was recently fired from his Port Hawkesbury law firm for misappropriating clients' trust funds is now being accused of mismanaging two trailer parks in Antigonish.

Bonnie Green, one of Jason Boudrot's tenants at Indian Gardens trailer court, said no one has been by to collect her garbage for about three weeks.

"It's very frustrating," said Green. "Especially with young children."

Charlie Worth said he has a verbal agreement with Boudrot to collect the garbage at the two trailer parks in Antigonish: Indian Gardens trailer court and Beaverbrook trailer court.

Worth sent a statement to CBC News saying, "My most recent attempts to reach out to him [Boudrot] to discuss the continuation of collection have unfortunately been unsuccessful despite numerous tries through different means of communication, so until I am able to reach him we are unable to continue collection."

Last month, Boudrot resigned from the board of Nova Scotia's Liberal Party citing personal reasons. He was suspended by the province's barristers society the next day after admitting to misappropriating funds.

Attempts by CBC News on Tuesday to reach Boudrot at his home and his former law office were unsuccessful.

On Wednesday, CBC News received a statement from Boudrot Properties, saying the company has been "actively working to rectify the situation for all residents."

The statement also said arrangements have been made for garbage collection on Friday and for ongoing snow removal at the Indian Gardens and Beaverbrook trailer courts.

"We are also discussing the issues with the Town of Antigonish to ensure residents will not be affected," the statement said.

Lorna MacLellan just moved into a mobile home in the Beaverbrook trailer court and said she has been stacking her garbage in her bathtub since the service ended more than three weeks ago.

MacLellan said she has been trying, with no luck, to reach Boudrot.

"All his phone numbers that we had are disconnected," she said. "We called his office and we spoke to his secretary and she said she couldn't get ahold of him either"

MacLellan said with no garbage service, she is worried about whether Boudrot has been paying his water bills to the city.

The CAO for the town of Antigonish, Jeff Lawrence, confirmed Boudrot has not.

"We haven't had any contact with Mr. Boudrot in the past month," Lawrence said.

"I think there's about 85 units that are involved between the two trailer parks. These individuals are part of our community. Their children go to our school system. It is something we take very seriously."

Lawrence said he's told the dozen or more residents of the parks who have contacted him that the town will not disconnect their water, for now.

Lawrence is advising the residents to reach out to the tenancy board and try to resolve the issue that way.

He said if Boudrot fails to pay his bills, he'll eventually have no choice but to shut off the water.

Lawrence said the town will continue to clear snow on Martin Street into the Beaverbrook trailer court — only because the town is responsible for most of the road and it's easier to clear the entire street than to force a plow to do a U-turn half way down the street.

That's a relief to some of the tenants at Beaverbrook.

Residents of his other trailer court, Indian Gardens, are more concerned.

Mary MacDonald has bags of garbage collecting beside her mobile home, but she is more worried about who will clear the snow.

"My boyfriend is on dialysis," MacDonald said while fighting back tears. "He has renal failure so he has to be at St Martha's [hospital] three times a week for 4½ hours. So if they don't plow the road, how is he supposed to get out?"