QUALICUM BEACH, B.C., : A Qualicum Beach resident and business owner has used artificial intelligence to read 143 sets of Council minutes from the 2022–2026 term and to fact-check candidates in the October 17 election. The results are published free at LetThemEatGolf.ca, a non-partisan record of what Council funded, cut and postponed. Every figure links to the public Town document it comes from.
“When I opened up Unravel Travel in May, I thought I’d be using AI to build custom travel apps. Fact-checking election candidates in my free time was not on my bingo card,” said Saleem Barnard. “But some decisions matter too much to this town’s future to sit out.”
“You don’t have to trust the AI, or me,” said Barnard. “Every number links to the Town’s own document. Qualicum Beach puts its records online, and its staff write reports that are frank about the hard numbers. That’s open government doing its job.”
Since 2008, 624 local news outlets have closed in 395 Canadian communities.1 Yet in smaller communities, local newspapers and local radio are still the most trusted sources of news, at 85 per cent.2 LetThemEatGolf.ca relies on that reporting too: it cites 46 news reports from 11 outlets, 27 of them from the Parksville Qualicum Beach News.
“Our local reporters do important work with far fewer resources than they once had,” said Barnard. “This doesn’t replace them. It’s one resident trying to help, and I’d welcome any journalist checking my work.”
Trust in politicians is lower. Just 15 per cent of Canadians trust them for reliable information, tied with celebrities for last of 15 groups.3
“Trust isn’t something you can ask for,” said Barnard. “You earn it by showing your work, and that goes for me, for every candidate, and for the Town.”
Along with the minutes, Barnard used AI on the agenda packages and staff reports behind them, four hours of public hearing video and all 902 responses to the Town’s Eaglecrest survey. The site cites 70 source documents by name and has fact-checked 134 claims made by eight candidates, in their questionnaire answers, campaign websites and flyers, and in the Town’s own Eaglecrest FAQ.
The reading, cross-checking and drafting were done with Claude, an AI system made by Anthropic. Totals are calculated from the underlying data rather than typed by hand, and mistakes are corrected in public, with the date. On September 23, every candidate the site had fact-checked was sent the same letter inviting them to point out any error.
About LetThemEatGolf.ca
LetThemEatGolf.ca is a personal, non-commercial project. It is not paid for, sponsored or authorized by any candidate, party or campaign, and it is not affiliated with the Town of Qualicum Beach. It covers one Council, the 2022–2026 term, which ends with the general local election on October 17, 2026.
Media contact
Saleem Barnard
facts@LetThemEatGolf.ca
Sources
- Local News Map Data: August 1, 2026. Local News Research Project, Toronto Metropolitan University.
- Local Media Study in Canadian Communities. Public Policy Forum and Ipsos, January 27, 2025. Online survey of 1,001 adults in communities under 100,000 people.
- The 2026 Proof Strategies CanTrust Index. Proof Strategies, February 2026.