Elections BC · 2022–2025
Jean Young’s Elections BC Penalty
In September 2025 Elections BC fined Councillor Jean Young $650 for accepting a prohibited contribution in her 2022 campaign. She was her own financial agent, and she put $1,778.39 more of her own money into her campaign than the $2,500 limit allowed. The most Elections BC could have fined her was $3,556.78. It said she cooperated in putting things right, but that her campaign didn’t answer some of its investigator’s requests. This happened in her campaign, before she took office.
The rule
Money a candidate puts into their own campaign counts as a campaign contribution, and there is a limit on it. Elections BC’s notice says that in 2022 an “unendorsed” candidate like Young could give her own campaign up to $2,500. Anything over a limit is a prohibited contribution. The campaign has to return it, and Elections BC can fine the candidate up to twice the amount.
The notice explains why going over matters. A candidate who does so doesn’t have to raise that money from other people, “saving the candidate time during a busy campaign.”
Sources: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC)
What happened
- Fall 2022. Young ran for Council and was her own financial agent: the person who must follow the campaign finance rules and report the campaign’s money to Elections BC. She was elected on October 15.
Sources: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC); Inaugural Council agenda, Nov 7, 2022 (2022 election results, pp. 5–7) (Town of Qualicum Beach)
- January 6, 2023. She filed her campaign’s disclosure statement. It reported $4,278.39 in campaign expenses, but no contributions.
Source: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC)
- May 3, 2023. In a phone call with Elections BC, she confirmed that she had paid for her campaign herself. Elections BC told her this might be a prohibited contribution, because it was $1,778.39 over the limit.
Source: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC)
- June 2, 2023. Asked by Elections BC for a supplementary report, she filed an amended statement. It showed that she had returned $2,000 to herself on September 8, 2022, and it added two new contributions of $1,000 each from eligible contributors to make up the amount. The notice doesn’t say why the September 2022 return wasn’t in her first statement.
Source: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC)
- April 2025. On April 14 Elections BC sent her a notice that it was investigating. When the investigator called three days later to confirm she had received it, she said she had, and referred all further questions to her lawyer.
Source: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC)
- May 2025. Her lawyer wrote that they believed the matter had been settled in 2023. The investigator replied that she had come back into compliance in June 2023, but that Elections BC was now looking at the original breach. From May 16 to 23 the investigator tried to reach her lawyer and got no response.
Source: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC)
- July 2025. The investigator sent a report to her and her lawyer on July 14, with a deadline of July 21. On July 21 she wrote that she no longer had a lawyer and asked for more time, and got until July 30. On July 28 she sent sworn statements from the two contributors saying they had given to her campaign. Elections BC accepted these, so it added no penalty for failing to return a contribution.
Source: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC)
- August 15, 2025. The notice says Elections BC gave her a copy of the investigator’s report and its preliminary findings on this date, and that she did not respond to it. The notice doesn’t explain how this report relates to the one sent on July 14.
Source: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC)
- September 9, 2025. Elections BC’s Director of Investigations issued the enforcement notice and a $650 penalty. Elections BC listed it on its website on September 10.
Sources: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC); Administrative monetary penalties (Elections BC)
What Elections BC weighed
The notice found that she accepted a prohibited contribution under the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act. In setting the penalty, it listed points on both sides.
In her favour
- “Once contacted by Elections BC, you cooperatively brought yourself into compliance.”
- Her campaign returned the prohibited contribution, as the law requires.
- She had never been fined under the Act before.
Against her
- Going over the limit gave her an advantage, because she didn’t have to raise that money elsewhere.
- “Your campaign was not responsive to some of the Investigators requests for information.”
The penalty was $650, less than a fifth of the $3,556.78 maximum. The notice told her she could ask for a review within 14 days or go to the BC Supreme Court within 30 days. We found nothing public saying whether she paid, asked for a review or went to court.
Sources: Enforcement notice: Jean Young, accepting a prohibited contribution (2025) (Elections BC); Administrative monetary penalties (Elections BC)
Her side
The Parksville Qualicum Beach News reported the fine on September 10, 2025. Its story retold the notice and had no comment from Young.
Search listings show the newspaper later ran a letter, apparently from her, headlined as an apology to the community for misunderstanding the rule. The page has since been taken down and we couldn’t open a saved copy, so we can’t confirm who wrote it or what it said. If you have a copy, send it to facts@LetThemEatGolf.ca and we will add her account here.
Our fact check of her flyer also mentions the penalty, beside her record on openness at Town Hall.
Sources: Qualicum Beach councillor fined by Elections BC (Sep 10, 2025) (Parksville Qualicum Beach News)
More on Jean Young
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2022–2026 · Council record
Jean Young on Qualicum Beach Council, 2022–2026
She won a seat in 2022 on her third try. We found no censure or declared conflict of interest, and she missed 5 of about 168 meetings. She backed the Eaglecrest funding plan and rezoning and moved its budget increase to $21.2 million, but voted against the $1.18 million course contract.
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Council candidate
Jean Young Questionnaire
- Accurate × 2
- Misleading × 3
- Inaccurate × 1
Young’s description of the Town’s wildfire planning and its aging population holds up. Her account of closed meetings doesn’t. Most decisions made in closed meetings have been released months later, not at the next open meeting, and some were final when they were made. She also points to Eaglecrest due diligence that missed extensive irrigation and drainage problems, and says three golf courses can support tourism, which no published study shows.
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Council candidate
Jean Young Flyer
- Accurate × 5
- Misleading × 2
Young’s flyer holds up on her attendance, her conference work, transparency and the groups she says she has supported. Her healthcare record matches her promises, though Council voted down several of her motions. Her claim to have advocated for responsible financial management leaves out that she backed the Eaglecrest funding plan and moved its budget increase. The “Re-wilding Second Avenue initiative” is an idea she has raised, not a Town initiative.
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Council candidate
Jean Young “Celebrating Progress” Handout
- Accurate × 10
- Misleading × 8
Most of the work Young’s handout lists is real, and she voted for nearly all of it. Much was done by staff and paid for by grants. But four items were bought or built before this Council took office, including the fire department ladder truck, bought in December 2021. The handout counts tree protection and event sponsorships as progress, though she voted against the tree bylaw at second and third reading and against every sponsorship package. Her Eaglecrest figures are right, but the budget she moved is $21.2 million, not $8.5 million, and most of it is already committed.
Everything on Jean Young · All fact checks · Qualicum Beach Election 2026