Nessa Cymbalisty Questionnaire

Accurate

1. Skill set and preparedness

   “As mayor, I can and will call special meetings for council to proceed effectively and effeciently on resolving issuses.”

   Accurate The Community Charter lets the Mayor call a special Council meeting at the Mayor’s discretion, with at least 24 hours’ public notice.

   • The meeting’s decisions still take a majority of the Council members present. Each member, the Mayor included, has one vote.
   • This Council has used special meetings for major decisions, such as the Eaglecrest funding plan on July 23, 2025 and the $400,000 health-care contribution on July 31, 2026.

   Sources: Community Charter, Part 5: ss. 116 (mayor), 117 (confidentiality), 123 (voting) and 126 (special meetings) (Province of British Columbia); Special Council minutes, Jul 23, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Special Council minutes, Jul 31, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach)

2. Motive and interests

   “I belong to the Legion Branch 076 Qualicum Beach (memberships are free in 2026, in honour of all legion’s 100th anniversary).”

   Accurate For new members. The Royal Canadian Legion is offering free membership to anyone who joins in 2026, its centenary year. Existing members renew at the usual dues.

   • The Legion was incorporated by an Act of Parliament on July 17, 1926.

   Sources: Centenary 2026: free membership FAQ (The Royal Canadian Legion)

Promises and opinions: the record so far

We don’t rate promises or opinions. Where the document raises an issue with a public record, here is what it shows.

1. Financial acumen

   “I would reduce spending on project awards by making the bids for jobs publically available, with opinion polls by residents.”

   This is a promise, so we don’t rate it. The Town already posts its calls for bids on its website and lists who won each contract. The call for the Memorial Avenue and Fir Street crosswalk, for example, ran from July 16 to August 19, 2026; Council awarded the $122,727 contract on September 9.

   Sources: Bids & Tender Opportunities (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda and staff reports, Sep 9, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach)

2. Financial acumen

   “It is a viable option to create a satelite medical school in coordination with UBC.”

   Whether it is viable is a judgment, so we don’t rate it. UBC already runs a medical program on Vancouver Island. It is based at the University of Victoria, takes 40 students a year, and trains students at hospitals in Nanaimo, Comox and other Island communities. We found no plan for a site in Qualicum Beach.

   Sources: MD Undergraduate Program: program sites (UBC Faculty of Medicine); About the Island Medical Program (UBC Faculty of Medicine)

3. Financial acumen

   “I would maintain employment, wages (not withstanding required increases), and taxes, unless necessary to increase for real indentifiable and evidence based value purposes.”

   This is a promise, so we don’t rate it. Town tax went up 5.9% in 2023, 7.7% in 2024, 6.6% in 2025 and 6.5% in 2026, and the current plan projects 6.0% for 2027, then 4.0%, 6.4% and 7.4%. Holding taxes flat would mean cutting from that plan, which takes a majority of Council; the Mayor has one vote.

   On this site:

   • Adam Walker’s claim on the tax outlook

   Sources: Financial Plan Amendment Bylaw No. 921.01 (adopted Jul 15, 2026) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2026–2030 Financial Plan (adopted Apr 1, 2026) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2023–2027 Financial Plan (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2024–2028 Financial Plan (adopted Mar 13, 2024) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2025–2029 Financial Plan (Town of Qualicum Beach); Community Charter, Part 5: ss. 116 (mayor), 117 (confidentiality), 123 (voting) and 126 (special meetings) (Province of British Columbia)

4. Financial acumen

   “I would first hire Adam Walker, as an executive consultant for the town. […] I would also set up a charity in the town and council’s names, and hire both a health social worker and a civil lawyer. All of the above would be funded for my full four year term.”

   This is a promise, so we don’t rate it. The question was what she would do with a $1 million grant. Spread over four years, that is $250,000 a year, to pay a consultant, a social worker and a lawyer and to run a charity that she says would include a centre and a home for vulnerable people. Spending it would take a majority vote of Council. Adam Walker is running against her for Mayor.

   Sources: Community Charter, Part 5: ss. 116 (mayor), 117 (confidentiality), 123 (voting) and 126 (special meetings) (Province of British Columbia); Candidates nominated for PQB local elections (Sep 13, 2026) (Parksville Qualicum Beach News)

5. Transparency

   “Additionally, I would like to make the individual votes of each council member available right away to the public in all circumstances.”

   This is a promise, so we don’t rate it. For open meetings it is mostly in place: they are public and recorded, and the Procedure Bylaw requires the minutes to name everyone who votes against a motion. Closed meetings are different. The Community Charter requires members to keep what happens in them confidential until Council releases it, so a Mayor couldn’t do this alone.

   Sources: Council Procedure Bylaw No. 733, 2019 (adopted Oct 14, 2020) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Council and committee meeting recordings, 2022–2026 (lengths as listed by YouTube) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Community Charter, Part 5: ss. 116 (mayor), 117 (confidentiality), 123 (voting) and 126 (special meetings) (Province of British Columbia)

6. Transparency

   “Immediate reporting and review!”

   This is a promise, so we don’t rate it. She was asked when closed-meeting decisions should be made public. Council decides when to release them. This term most came out months later; a few in 2026 came out at the next regular meeting.

   On this site:

   • How long closed decisions took to come out

   Sources: Regular Council agenda and staff reports, Jun 18, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda, Sep 17, 2025 (closed meeting motions released) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda, Nov 20, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda, Jun 24, 2026 (closed meeting motions released; 2025 Statement of Financial Information) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Community Charter, Part 4: ss. 89–92 (open and closed meetings) and s. 86 (alternative approval process) (Province of British Columbia)

7. Public consultation

   “Yes! Emphatically. […] Certainly if the letter writer wanted their views to be known to the community, and it is appropriate as well as safe to do so, then I would support posting letters online.”

   This is a promise, so we don’t rate it. Spoken comments at Council meetings ended in 2020, under the previous Council, and this Council kept that rule. Even before then, they came after the votes. To speak before a decision, residents apply to address Council as a delegation, which is still possible, and town-hall style Committee of the Whole meetings began in 2025. Council agendas list the letters received by date and subject, but not the letters themselves.

   On this site:

   • Mischa Oak’s claim on public comment
   • Adam Walker’s claim on letters to Council

   Sources: Regular Council minutes, Oct 7, 2020 (Comments from the Public) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Council Procedure Bylaw No. 733, 2019 (adopted Oct 14, 2020) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Qualicum Beach introduces new ‘town hall’ style committee meetings (Feb 8, 2025) (Parksville Qualicum Beach News); Regular Council agenda, Jun 14, 2023 (correspondence log without the binder note, p. 10) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda and staff reports, Sep 9, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach)

8. FireSmart

   “We should be seriously investing in fire prevention, because as has been said: a pinch of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

   This is a view, so we don’t rate it. The video she links is a US TV news report on new satellites that spot wildfires from space. The Town adopted a Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan in June 2024 and created an Assistant Fire Chief of Prevention post, part-funded by provincial FireSmart grants. In July 2025 it pushed its Fire Department Strategic Plan back to 2027 to help pay for Eaglecrest.

   On this site:

   • The FireSmart post and grants
   • Fire Department Strategic Plan

   Sources: New satellites spot wildfires from space (video linked in her answer) (KTLA 5, Los Angeles); Community Wildfire Resiliency Plan (Town of Qualicum Beach); Special Council minutes, Jul 10, 2024 (Assistant Fire Chief of Prevention position) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda, Sep 11, 2024 (FireSmart grant application; Accessibility Plan, pp. 170–173) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Special Council minutes, Jul 23, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Special Council agenda and deferral lists, Jul 23, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach)

9. Governance

   “I would have to assess the committees, commissions, and boards comprehensively which I would do immediately in my job as mayor, at no additional cost.”

   This is a promise, so we don’t rate it. Council did this in 2024: a review led it to dissolve two committees that year and a third in 2025. Provincial law requires the Town to keep a board of variance and an accessibility committee.

   On this site:

   • Anne Skipsey’s claim on the committee review

   Sources: Regular Council agenda, Feb 12, 2025 (summary of 2024 Council resolutions) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, Nov 20, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Local Government Act, s. 536: board of variance required (Province of British Columbia); Accessible British Columbia Act, s. 9: accessibility committee (Province of British Columbia)

More on Nessa Cymbalisty

• Mayor candidate

  Nessa Cymbalisty Website

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