Council record · 2014–2018

Anne Skipsey on Qualicum Beach Council, 2014–2018

Anne Skipsey was first elected to Qualicum Beach Council in 2014, with the most votes of any council candidate. She served one term under Mayor Teunis Westbroek, then ran for Mayor in 2018 and lost to Brian Wiese. In that term she declared a conflict of interest and left the room 15 times, at 11 meetings. That is what the law asks a councillor to do. The minutes named voters only when someone asked. When they did, she usually voted against development approvals, and she was the only vote against the 2018–2022 Financial Plan. Her record since 2021 has its own page.

Her elections and roles

2014: she came first of nine candidates for four council seats, with 3,032 votes.
2014 to 2018: she held the community development portfolio. She was the Town’s alternate on the Regional District of Nanaimo board from December 2017 to October 2018.
2018: she ran for Mayor rather than for Council, and lost to Brian Wiese, 2,581 votes to 1,987. She was off Council until she won a by-election in May 2021.

Sources: 2014 General Local Election, preliminary results (Town of Qualicum Beach); Inaugural Council minutes, Dec 1, 2014 (Regional District alternates, p. 2) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, Apr 4, 2016 (conflict declaration, p. 5) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2018 General Local Election, official results (Town of Qualicum Beach)

The conflicts she declared

Under the Community Charter, a councillor who thinks they have a conflict of interest must say so and give the reason in general terms. They must then leave the room and stay out of the discussion and the vote. The minutes must record the reason and the times they left and came back. The Province’s advice to councillors: “When in doubt, it is advised to err on the side of caution and declare any real or perceived non-pecuniary conflict of interest.”

Skipsey did this 15 times at 11 meetings between January 2016 and June 2018, and left the room each time. Declaring a conflict is not a finding that anyone did anything wrong. We found no complaint or finding that she broke the conflict rules.

Conflicts of interest Councillor Skipsey declared, 2016–2018, with the reasons the minutes give
Date	Item	Her reason, as the minutes give it
Jan 11, 2016	Notice of motion on recognizing the Town’s Freemen	Her father is a Freeman of the municipality
Apr 4, 2016	Citizen recognition and awards policy	“her father is a Freeman of the municipality”
Nov 14, 2016	Road closure bylaw (No. 710)	“her family residence is in close proximity to the subject property, noting future development of the site could impact her view”
Dec 5, 2016	Citizen recognition and awards policy	“her father is a Freeman of the Municipality”
Dec 5, 2016	Road closure bylaw (No. 710)	“the subject property was in close proximity to her family residence”
Jan 16, 2017	Public hearing on the road closure bylaw	“the view at her personal property could be affected”
Jan 16, 2017	Road closure bylaw (No. 710)	“the view of her personal property could be affected”
Oct 2, 2017	Rye Road rezoning, first reading	“her family relationship with the applicant”
Jan 29, 2018	Rye Road rezoning	“her close friendship to the applicant”
Mar 19, 2018	Contract for the beach washrooms renovation	“her close relationship to the contractor”
Mar 19, 2018	Rye Road rezoning	“her relationship with the applicant”
Apr 16, 2018	Rye Road rezoning	“her close family friendship to the applicant”
May 7, 2018	Public hearing on a Rye Road rezoning	“her close friendship with the applicant”
May 7, 2018	Rye Road rezoning	“her close friendship with the applicant”
Jun 18, 2018	Rye Road rezoning, adoption	“the close family friendship with one of the applicants”

In February 2016 Council amended the minutes of January 11, 2016 to record the reason for her first declaration, as the law requires. For the Rye Road rezoning, the relationship she gave changed from meeting to meeting: a family relationship, a close friendship, a close family friendship. Council adopted that rezoning in June 2018, with her out of the room.

She wasn’t the only one. In the same term Councillor Luchtmeijer declared conflicts more often than she did, mostly over developments near his home and business. She has declared none since returning to Council in 2021.

Her recorded votes

In this term the minutes usually say only whether a motion passed. They name who voted which way only when a member asked for a recorded vote. These are the recorded votes we found where she was named. She was usually on the losing side with Councillor Avis.

Councillor Skipsey’s recorded votes, 2014–2018
Date	Decision	Skipsey	Result
Feb 27, 2017	Retirement residence at 120 First Avenue West (94 units, five storeys), third reading	Against (the only one)	Passed 4–1
Mar 20, 2017	Plan and zoning changes for 560/570 Laburnum Road, second reading	Against	Passed 3–2
May 1, 2017	560/570 Laburnum Road, third readings	Against	Passed 3–2
May 1, 2017	120 First Avenue West, adoption and development permit	Against	Passed 3–2
May 1, 2017	The 2017 water rates and property tax rates bylaws	For	Passed unanimously
Oct 23, 2017	A tree management plan for the uptown area	Against	Passed 3–2
Oct 23, 2017	2018–2022 Financial Plan, third reading	Against	Passed 3–2
Nov 20, 2017	2018–2022 Financial Plan, adoption	Against (the only one)	Passed 4–1
Mar–May 2018	Joining the Regional District’s garbage collection for single-family homes, and the new rates	Against	Passed 3–2 each time
May 28, 2018	Line up the Urban Containment Boundary with the Town boundary in the new Official Community Plan	Against	Passed 3–2
Sep 17, 2018	Development permit for 1025 Qualicum Road (Pheasant Glen)	Against	Passed 3–2

On the retirement residence, she said at the public hearing that “she did vote in favour to move the development forward” at an earlier stage. She then voted against it at third reading and adoption.

What she pushed for

These are motions she moved herself. The minutes don’t say who voted against the ones that failed.

April 2015: a staff report on the “timelines and costs necessary to record and/or stream Council meetings”. Passed.
January 2016: that staff “explore the next steps for making our community a more dementia-friendly community”. Passed.
January 2017: that the Advisory Planning Commission’s minutes “reflect the discussion at the meeting including questions, comments and responses”. Failed.
May 2017: setting up a Select Committee on Housing. Failed.
August 2017: an education program to prepare for a bylaw “to eliminate the use of plastic bags at point-of-sale”. Passed.

Sources: Regular Council minutes, Apr 27, 2015 (recording Council meetings, p. 1) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, Jan 11, 2016 (conflict declaration; dementia-friendly community, p. 1) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, Jan 16, 2017 (Advisory Planning Commission minutes; conflict declarations, pp. 1 and 8) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, May 29, 2017 (Select Committee on Housing, p. 2) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, Aug 21, 2017 (plastic bags, p. 1) (Town of Qualicum Beach)

Attendance

She missed 6 of about 124 Council meetings with published minutes: the special meetings of July 2, 2015, January 18, 2016, June 16, 2017 and June 6, 2018, and the regular meetings of June 19, 2017 and February 19, 2018. We didn’t count Committee of the Whole meetings for this term.

Sources: Council minutes, all meetings (Town of Qualicum Beach)

Her pay

Councillors were paid about $21,000 a year in this term, all at the same rate.

What the Town paid Councillor Skipsey, 2015 to 2018
Year	Pay	Expenses
2015	$21,043	$3,407
2016	$21,275	$7,026
2017	$21,657	$3,935
2018 (to early November)	$18,716	$7,347

Her expenses were the lowest of the four councillors in 2015 and 2017. In 2015, for example, Councillor Avis claimed $10,244.

Sources: 2015 Statement of Financial Information (Council pay and expenses, p. 25) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2016 Statement of Financial Information (Council pay and expenses, p. 26) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2017 Statement of Financial Information (Council pay and expenses, p. 29) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2018 Statement of Financial Information (Council pay and expenses, p. 2) (Town of Qualicum Beach)

What we looked for and didn’t find

We searched the minutes of every Council meeting from December 2014 to October 2018 for censures, sanctions, confidentiality breaches and bullying or harassment complaints. We found none involving Skipsey. The Town had no council code of conduct in her first term; Council adopted one in 2022, on her motion. Because the minutes of this term name voters so rarely, we can’t say how she voted on most decisions.

Sources: Council minutes, all meetings (Town of Qualicum Beach); Council Standards of Conduct, Policy 3004-7 (2022) (Town of Qualicum Beach)

More on Anne Skipsey

2021–2026 · Council record

Anne Skipsey on Qualicum Beach Council, 2021–2026

She won the 2021 by-election and topped the 2022 poll. In 2021 she helped defeat a motion that the Town not buy Eaglecrest, and since 2025 she has moved most of Council’s Eaglecrest decisions. We found no censure or conflict of interest; she missed 7 of 168 meetings this term.
Council candidate

Anne Skipsey Questionnaire
- Accurate × 8
- Misleading × 3
- Corrected × 1
Skipsey gets the record right on the Island Highway apartments, FireSmart work, the skate park, the hospital donation, the committees and the Eaglecrest arithmetic. When she defends Council’s record, she leaves out facts that change the picture. The tree bylaw’s promised public review hasn’t happened. And the 84% she cites measured satisfaction with Town news, not with how letters are handled.
Council candidate

Anne Skipsey Website
- Accurate × 1
- Misleading × 3
- Corrected × 1
Skipsey’s “setting the record straight” page is itself misleading about Eaglecrest. It presents the $21.2 million budget as depending on future decisions, but $15.3 million of it is already approved, and she moved the bylaw that set it. Her $12.4 million “actual current cost” is what’s left after taking out the $2.125 million donation. She says critics ignore the expected return, but the Town has never published one, and when Councillor Harrison asked for one, she voted to go ahead without an answer. Her election record and voting information are right.

Everything on Anne Skipsey · All fact checks · Qualicum Beach Election 2026

Anne Skipsey on Qualicum Beach Council, 2014–2018

Share this page