Eric Gould was originally charged with two dozen offences in connection with the March 2014 fire at Essence at Windermere South, which was under construction in the area of 10 Avenue and 173 Street SW.
On Thursday afternoon, Gould pleaded guilty to one count of arson. The other charges were dropped.
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Gould was one of two men responsible for the fire. Both worked as framing contractors on the project.
According to the agreed statement of fact, Gould did not actually set the fire; he convinced his then-brother-in-law to do it.
Gould did not want to set the fire himself because he feared he would be recognized on the security camera, according to the court document.
In September 2015, Jeremy Thibert was sentenced to two years in jail for his role in the fire. The 23-year-old was charged with arson, break and enter, theft under $5,000 and conspiracy.
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In 2015, it was discovered the fire was started by pouring gasoline from Gatorade bottles on highly flammable glue, then setting that on fire.
The defence described it as a case of a 23-year-old who was negatively influenced to do something he was remorseful about.