Better Late than Never?
That phrase was going through my head recently during my efforts to find out how much the Town spent to purchase the Eaglecrest Golf Course. When will the Town tell us?
How much did it cost and where did the money come from? Those were the questions that I asked about the purchase of the Eaglecrest Golf Course at a Town Hall meeting on November 17, 2025. In his response, Mayor Westbroek stated that the Town was committed to full transparency and that the information would be disclosed. In the absence of any information being released, I followed up with an email to the Mayor and each of the Councillors on January 19, 2026. I received no response from either the Mayor nor any of the Councillors. I followed up again on January 21 and, again, received no responses. The Eaglecrest Golf Course purchase was subsequently discussed by council at the February 11, 2026 council meeting. Again, Mayor Westbroek reiterated the Town's commitment to transparency and the sharing of information with the public. I followed up with an email to Mayor Westbroek on the same day asking when the information would be disclosed. On February 13, I received a telephone call from the Mayor advising that the information would be released and asked for my patience as the delay was due to a shortage of staff time. I pointed out to the Mayor that little staff time would be required as all of the information should be easily accessed from journal postings. To make a long story short, nothing was received following my telephone conversation with the Mayor.
On March 10, having waited close to 4 months since my initial request, I submitted an Freedom of Information Request in a last-ditch effort to receive the information. The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act stipulates that a response to a request must be provided within 30 business days of receipt of the request. Accordingly, I was advised by the Town that it would respond no later than April 23, 2026.
In my Freedom of Information Request, I asked for the following information:
1. All costs incurred in the purchase of the Eaglecrest Golf Course including, but not limited to, the agreed upon purchase price, legal fees, consultant's fees, vendor's/purchaser's adjustments, GST, PST, Property Transfer Tax, due diligence reports, appraisals, public engagement costs, advertising;
2. The source of all the funds used for the purchase of the Eaglecrest Golf Course and, in the case of funds coming from reserves, the identity of the specific reserve, the amount of the reserve prior to the purchase, the amount funded therefrom and the amount remaining following the purchase;
3. Council resolutions authorizing the use of the various funds;
4. Council resolutions and/or instruments documenting the repayment to the various funding sources;
5. The conditions, if any, attached to the $2.125 million donation from The Christopher Foundation.
On April 11, 2026 I received two letters from the Town regarding my Freedom of Information request. The gist of the letters was that some of the information requested may affect the interests of a third party and that party must be given an opportunity to address the disclosure. In any event, the end result is that the date by which the Town is required to respond to my request has now been extended to June 5, 2026.
I can only surmise that the third party in question is The Christopher Foundation. This raises the question of whether, in fact, there were conditions attached the donation from The Christopher Foundation, since if there were not, my query could have been answered simply by saying there were no conditions attached to the donation and there would be no need to involve The Christopher Foundation in my request. It also begs the question of why the balance of the information requested could not have been provided, as surely this is information that was prepared by the Town during the course of the purchase and is in its possession. In this regard, I am specifically concerned that the Town is not able to release the total of the costs to complete the purchase, where the funds were provided from and the balance in reserves following the purchase.
Given the time elapsed to date (close to four months) and the information disclosed (nil), one has to ask whether the Town will disclose the cost to purchase the golf course, let alone all of the post-purchase costs associated with revisioning Eaglecrest before the election in the fall.
Full disclosure and transparency? Hopefully, the town will disclose the costs and funding sources sooner, rather than later. We deserve, and are entitled to much better, from our elected officials.
James Noel
April 15, 2026
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