KAMLOOPS, B.C. - The owner of the NHL’s Dallas Stars will be sentenced next month for damaging a fish habitat during renovations to his vacation property in Kamloops, B.C.
Tom Gaglardi, who also owns the WHL's Kamloops Blazers, is scheduled to learn his fate on Dec. 12.
Gaglardi and his company, Northland Properties, were each convicted in August of two counts of harmful alteration of a fish habitat — 2,400 square metres of shoreline area on Kamloops Lake.
Court heard the damage occurred in 2010 during renovations, done without permits, to Gaglardi's five-bedroom home involving extensive landscaping, a 50-vehicle parking lot and the construction of a boat launch.
Crown lawyer Digby Kier told a sentencing hearing earlier this month that Gaglardi and his company should be ordered to pay a fine of $300,000, the maximum allowed under the law.
Kier said Gaglardi’s decisions involved the “blatant, blatant, blatant” actions of a “privileged family.”
He said Gaglardi’s approach to the renovations was to build first and ask questions later.
Defence lawyer Rob Bruneau has called for a fine in the range of $50,000 to $75,000, saying his client should not be penalized for being wealthy.
A Northland employee testified during the trial that he was ordered to throw his computer in the lake when federal authorities began looking into the alleged environmental infractions.
Jim Parks said he was also told to remove Northland logos from the project’s blueprint. (Kamloops This Week)
