Fact check · Campaign website · Running for Council (incumbent)

Anne Skipsey Website

Anne Skipsey, a current Qualicum Beach councillor, is running for re-election to Council in the October 17, 2026 local election. This fact check tests the policy and money claims in Anne Skipsey’s campaign website, anneskipsey.ca, including its “Fact checking” page on Eaglecrest against Town of Qualicum Beach records: Council minutes, budgets and staff reports. We rated five claims: one accurate and four misleading. Skipsey has since corrected one of them.

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.

  • Accurate × 1
  • Misleading × 3
  • Corrected × 1

We checked the policy and money claims in Anne Skipsey’s campaign website, anneskipsey.ca, including its “Fact checking” page on Eaglecrest. Quotes are exact; […] marks words left out. Each finding lists its sources: Town documents first, then news reports where the Town hasn’t published the facts. What the verdicts mean.

Checked September 22, 2026.

Also checked: Anne Skipsey Questionnaire.

Misleading

  1. Fact checking page: Eaglecrest

    “There is misleading information circulating regarding the Town’s acquisition of the Eaglecrest Golf Course with the figure of $21.2 million being stated as the cost of the project. I would like to clarify that this figure is based on future council decision-making with significant community input.”

    Misleading Only $5.87 million of the $21.2 million waits on future decisions. The other $15.3 million is approved for 2025 and 2026, and much of it is spent. She moved the bylaw that set the budget at $21,199,800.

    • The Town FAQ she links to lists $15,329,800 approved by Council for 2025 and 2026: the purchase, land servicing, the course rebuild, the clubhouse, equipment, an $800,000 maintenance building placeholder and the contingency. The $5,870,000 for 2027 and later covers the Highway 19A traffic solution and parkland, drainage and pedestrian work.
    • On July 15, 2026 she moved adoption of Bylaw 921.01, which raised the Eaglecrest budget from $20,688,000 to $21,199,800. It carried 4–1, with Councillor Harrison opposed.
    • The $21.2 million leaves out $2,863,000 of water and storm main work on Eaglecrest Drive, which Council moved out of the project and onto Town reserves in June 2026.
    • The FAQ says the future items need Council decisions. It doesn’t mention community input.
    On this site:

    Sources: Eaglecrest Project FAQ, Sep 14, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, Jul 15, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Financial Plan Amendment Bylaw No. 921.01 (adopted Jul 15, 2026) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, Jun 24, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach)

  2. Fact checking page: Eaglecrest

    “The actual current cost is approx. $12.4 million, which is made up of the purchase costs, upgrades to the golf course, the servicing of eight lots to be sold and approx. $1 million in contingency funds.”

    Misleading Council has approved $14.5 million of spending for 2025 and 2026, not counting the maintenance building placeholder. $12.4 million is what’s left after taking out the $2.125 million donation.

    • $15,329,800 approved, less the $800,000 placeholder and the $2,125,000 donation, is $12,404,800. The donation lowers what the Town pays, not what the project costs.
    • Her list leaves out the clubhouse rehabilitation ($600,000) and equipment ($900,000), which are in the total.
    • The FAQ budgets $800,000 for land servicing but doesn’t say how many lots it covers. It lists 8 lots and a parcel of about 6 acres for sale in 2026.
    • In her questionnaire answer she gave the same figure as “$14.5M less the $2,125,000 donation.” We rated that Accurate, because it said what it was.
    On this site:

    Sources: Eaglecrest Project FAQ, Sep 14, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Financial Plan Amendment Bylaw No. 921.01 (adopted Jul 15, 2026) (Town of Qualicum Beach)

  3. Fact checking page: Eaglecrest

    “Land sales (land acquired for about $65,000 an acre) are to cover these costs, not tax dollars.”

    Misleading Corrected That’s the plan, not yet what has happened. Until land sells, Town reserves and $1.275 million of general surplus carry the costs.

    Corrected September 29, 2026. Skipsey has changed her page to say “land acquired for about $65,000 an acre after donation.”

    • The Town’s September 14, 2026 FAQ lists no completed land sale. The budget bylaw schedules $1,233,200 less in land sales than the project needs.
    • The $6.5 million the Town put into the purchase includes $1.275 million of general surplus, money raised from taxpayers. The FAQ says it will be repaid in 2027–28.
    • Meanwhile the Town pays $32,000 a month to maintain the course, which won’t open until spring 2027.
    On this site:

    Sources: Eaglecrest Project FAQ, Sep 14, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Financial Plan Amendment Bylaw No. 921.01 (adopted Jul 15, 2026) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Extreme Eatz Inc. to maintain Eaglecrest Golf Course on interim basis (Apr 29, 2026) (Parksville Qualicum Beach News); Regular Council agenda, Jun 24, 2026 (closed meeting motions released; 2025 Statement of Financial Information) (Town of Qualicum Beach); FAQ: Eaglecrest Golf Course Lands (October 2025) (Town of Qualicum Beach)

  4. Fact checking page: Eaglecrest

    “What I haven’t seen from critics is any mention of the anticipated return on this investment. If elected, I will advocate for an appropriate return during the upcoming lease negotiation for the Qualicum Beach Eaglecrest Golf Course.”

    Misleading The Town has never published an expected return, so there is none for critics to mention. When Councillor Harrison asked in September 2025 whether the Town had revenue expectations, he got no answer, and Skipsey seconded the motion to seek an operator anyway.

    • At the September 17, 2025 meeting, before the call for an operator went out, Harrison asked: “do we have revenue expectations?” He asked whether the lease should lower the tax burden or just pay for itself. The chair replied: “this is a request for proposal, so we’ll see.” The motion, moved by the Mayor and seconded by Skipsey, carried 4–1.
    • In December 2025, when she moved the course rebuild, Harrison said “we’re leaping into the unknown financially.”
    • Neither of the Town’s Eaglecrest FAQs nor its 2026–2030 Financial Plan expects any income from the course or an operator. The plan is for land sales to cover the costs. We found no business plan or return estimate in the public record.
    • The lease talks are already under way, with Council, including Skipsey, at the table. In a closed meeting on March 11, 2026, Council approved a restaurant lease with Extreme Eatz, the company that also holds the interim maintenance contract. The Town’s 2025 Annual Report says a golf course operations agreement with it is “currently being finalized.”
    • The quotes from the meetings are from the video’s automatic captions.
    On this site:

    Sources: Video: Regular Council meeting, Sep 17, 2025 (Eaglecrest operator RFP at 5:14:30) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, Sep 17, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Video: Special Council meeting, Dec 17, 2025 (course reconfiguration RFP at 1:41:15) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Special Council minutes, Dec 17, 2025 (Town of Qualicum Beach); Eaglecrest Project FAQ, Sep 14, 2026 (Town of Qualicum Beach); FAQ: Eaglecrest Golf Course Lands (October 2025) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2026–2030 Financial Plan (adopted Apr 1, 2026) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Financial Plan Amendment Bylaw No. 921.01 (adopted Jul 15, 2026) (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council agenda, Jun 24, 2026 (closed meeting motions released; 2025 Statement of Financial Information) (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2025 Annual Report (Town of Qualicum Beach)

Accurate

  1. Knowing page

    “Elected to council in 2014 with a strong showing of 3,032 votes”

    Accurate The Town’s 2014 results give her 3,032 votes, the most of any council candidate.

    • The rest of her election history checks out too. She ran for mayor in 2018 and lost to Brian Wiese, 2,581 to 1,987. She won the 2021 by-election and took her oath of office on May 27, 2021.

    Sources: 2014 General Local Election, preliminary results (Town of Qualicum Beach); 2018 General Local Election, official results (Town of Qualicum Beach); Regular Council minutes, May 27, 2021 (Town of Qualicum Beach)

We didn’t check these background claims on her “Knowing” page, because the Town records we hold don’t cover them: her role in keeping the elementary school (QBES) in town, founding the St. Andrews Lodge Historical and Cultural Society, the Repair Cafe and her other volunteer work, her work for the City of Burnaby, including as Chief Election Officer, and what she says she advocated for in her 2014–2018 term.

Anne Skipsey’s record in office

  • 2021–2026 · Council record

    On Council, 2021–2026

    Moved most of Council’s Eaglecrest decisions; no censure or conflicts.

  • 2014–2018 · Council record

    First term, 2014–2018

    Stepped out 15 times for declared conflicts; ran for Mayor in 2018.

Everything on Anne Skipsey

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Read the page we checked. If the candidate, their campaign or any reader can show us a record that corrects a finding, we will update this page and note the change. Our corrections policy.

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