Local governments have now completed their annual reports and Statements of Financial Information as required by the province. Often you will see economic reports that compare financial positions of major urban centers, but I have never seen a smaller community focused comparison approach. Clearly the amount of money involved and the size of the audience is greater in the bigger cities and hence they get the attention. The matter is just as important to residents of smalle

Well almost a whole year has gone by since we first wrote to council requesting the town institute a policy with respect to permissive tax exceptions. Further, on several occasions through the the year at Committee of the Whole meetings we have brought the subject forward reminding council that these exemptions should not be automatic and that council has some discretion to amend the amount that is exempted...

The town of Qualicum Beach holds town hall meetings at which the public is invited to ask questions of council and staff. At the June 17, 2026 meeting a number of questions were asked about the purchase of the Eaglecrest Golf Course. ...

With neighbouring communities and many other island communities further away, under severe water restrictions, I ask the question “What information have we been given about the Town of Qualicum Beach’s current water situation?” The RDN recently released their Regional Groundwater Level Analysis Report covering the entire RDN with data taken from 62 observation wells across ...

A recent advertisement in the PQB news caught my attention. The ad was placed by the City of Parksville to notify not-for-profit organizations ("NPOs") of the upcoming deadline to submit applications for property tax exemption for properties...

How much did it cost and where did the money come from? Those were the questions that I asked at a Town Hall meeting on November 17, 2025...