Donald Couzens Questionnaire

Inaccurate

1. Transparency

   “The local Government Act states that by default town council meetings will be open. It also identifies reasons a meeting MAY be closed, without saying it MUST be closed.”

   Inaccurate Corrected Meetings are open by default, but the law also lists matters that must be discussed in private. The law in question is the Community Charter, not the Local Government Act.

   Corrected September 24, 2026. Couzens told us the statement was wrong. His point, he says, is that the law requires a closed meeting for only four kinds of matters, so open meetings should be the rule and closed ones the exception.

   • Section 90(1) of the Community Charter lists matters Council may close a meeting for, such as land, legal advice and staff. Section 90(2) lists four matters it must close a meeting for: some freedom-of-information requests, confidential negotiations with other governments or First Nations, Ombudsperson investigations, and matters another law requires to be closed.
   • Part of what he proposes is already the law. Before closing a meeting, Council must pass a resolution in public saying so and giving the reason. When to release the decisions is up to Council, and this term it has often taken months.
   On this site:

   • How long closed decisions took to come out

   Sources: Community Charter, Part 4: ss. 89–92 (open and closed meetings) and s. 86 (alternative approval process) (Province of British Columbia)

2. Development

   “In QB, 80% of the population is over the age of 60, and 80% of the housing stock is single detached dwellings.”

   Inaccurate Corrected The housing figure is right: 79%. The age figure is too high. In the 2021 Census, 66% of residents were 60 or older.

   Corrected September 24, 2026. Couzens told us he counted one census age group twice. About two-thirds of residents are 60 or older.

   • Of 9,300 residents, 6,140 were 60 or older and 5,235 (56%) were 65 or older. The median age was 67.5.
   • Of 4,435 occupied homes, 3,515 were single-detached houses.

   Sources: Census Profile, 2021 Census: Qualicum Beach (Statistics Canada)

Accurate

1. Finances

   “For now, I would focus on using discretionary funding to either rebuild the reserve funds or to proactively replace aging infrastructure that has been delayed (ie. Asbestos-Cement pipes, public building roofs etc.).”

   Accurate Town staff wrote in November 2025 that water pipe renewals “have been deferred to future years,” and that the reserve for buildings is underfunded.

   • The Town has 25 to 28.5 km of asbestos-cement water pipe, depending on the source, some of it with less than 15 years of life left. The 2026–2030 plan budgets $8.3 million to replace it.
   • Roofs for the Curling Club, The Old School House, the Civic Centre, Leigh House and the airport are scheduled for 2026 to 2029.
   On this site:

   • Behind the infrastructure numbers
   • Water pipe renewals

   Sources: Committee of the Whole agenda and scoping sheets, Nov 12, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2026–2030 Financial Plan (adopted Apr 1, 2026) (Town of Qualicum Beach)

2. Community funding

   “Other municipalities have annual application windows for organizations to request support, and I do not believe QB has the same requirement, it is just re-approved annually.”

   Accurate Mostly right. There is no general grant intake, and tax exemptions worth about $833,000 a year are simply renewed. The one exception is a $10,000 event fund with a March 31 deadline.

   • The Town’s biggest support for non-profits is permissive tax exemptions: about $833,000 in foregone taxes for 2027, $384,000 of it the Town’s share. Staff say the list “has remained largely unchanged,” and Council renews it each year as one-year exemptions.
   • Staff wrote in May 2025 that “Council does not provide Grants in Aid.” The Special Events Sponsorship Policy adopted then has a March 31 deadline, a $10,000 yearly budget and a limit of $2,500 per group.
   • Other support comes through one-off requests to Council, and through leases and fee-for-service agreements that usually run several years, like the Chamber of Commerce’s three-year agreement approved in 2025.
   On this site:

   • A 2026 event funding request
   • Permissive tax exemptions
   • Every event sponsorship and vote
   • How the Chamber of Commerce is funded

   Sources: Regular Council agenda, Jul 15, 2026 (Ways to Achieve Attainable Market Housing Plan; permissive tax exemptions) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda, May 14, 2025 (Special Events Sponsorship Policy) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, May 14, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda, Sep 17, 2025 (closed meeting motions released) (Town of Qualicum Beach)

3. Development

   “Before this can happen, we need to fully understand what kind of growth our municipal utilities, particularly the water supply, can support without imposing restrictions like all of our neighbors.”

   Accurate The Town is doing this now. It has commissioned a study of its groundwater, due early in 2027.

   • Staff told Council in July 2026 that both Town well fields are stable or improving, after a short period of stress in May. The Town already has Level 1 watering restrictions.

   Sources: Regular Council minutes, Jul 15, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach)

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