Electoral Area F · Regional District of Nanaimo
Leanne Salter
A neighbour who grew up here. Asking to finish the work.
Protecting rural Area F — our water, our tax dollars, and our say.
Coombs · Hilliers · Errington · Whiskey Creek · Meadowood
Why this race matters
Area F is unincorporated. The RDN director is the local voice for planning, parks, fire, water, halls, and whether this area stays rural or changes form.
This vote is local.
About Leanne
Fifty-five years in Area F. Still on the farm.
Leanne grew up in Area F and has lived here more than 55 years. She keeps a small farm — goats, birds, a big garden — using methods her grandfather taught her.
She was a provincial public servant for more than 20 years with the Ministry of Advanced Education and the Ministry of Social Development. She wrote the ministry's fleeing-abuse policy so people in unsafe homes could get help quickly. She built grant tools so students could find money beyond loans.
“Trust yourself.”
Before that work followed her into community life: she opened C.O.D.E., a Nanaimo community dental clinic with volunteer dentists for seniors, working families, and people on assistance (later taken on by the John Howard Society). She opened a men's house for people leaving incarceration. She mentored First Nations youth and women into non-traditional trades, including heavy equipment and power tools. She was a BCGEU component chair, a Parksville city councillor, and alternate RDN director for Area F. She is now in her second term as Area F director.
She says the job is simple: be a servant of the people who live here, and make sure their voices are heard at the board table.
“This is a rural area and has been since I was a child.”
What I stand for
Three things. Plainly.
Protect our water and land
No biosolid sludge on our land. Map and protect the karst that feeds our groundwater. Keep Hamilton Marsh and other conservation ground.
Keep taxes honest
Spend Area F money on Area F. She refused to sign onto $100,000 for a Parksville pool study her residents did not want. That stopped the spend.
You decide on incorporation
She pushed the governance, boundary, and incorporation-study process so residents can get facts on taxes, services, and costs — then vote. She will not tell them the answer.
Record
Eight years of showing up.
What she has actually done for Coombs, Hilliers, Errington, Whiskey Creek, and Meadowood.
Protecting taxpayers
Voted against and refused to sign a $100,000 RDN contribution to a Parksville swimming-pool feasibility study. Without unanimous support the spend did not proceed.
She took pressure from the board and held the line because Area F did not want the future tax risk.
Water, biosolids, and PFAS
Since 2022 she has pressed the board on land-applied biosolids (treated sewage sludge) and PFAS “forever chemicals.” She requested reports, briefed directors, and invited local biologist Robert Waters and ocean-pollution expert Dr. Peter S. Ross to speak.
She moved to stop dumping biosolid sludge in the RDN and passed a motion for legal advice specific to Area F. This is precaution for our soil, farms, wells, and food.
Karst and the upper watershed
She initiated a Vancouver Island University / MABRRI study of Area F’s karst landscape and its link to groundwater, with about $20,000 in seed funding. The goal: map limestone and sensitive ecosystems, and understand how logging and extraction affect the mid and lower watersheds.
If the science warrants it, build partnerships with the Province, VIU, MABRRI, Mosaic, First Nations, caving groups, and the RDN.
Karst is water-soluble rock that forms sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, and underground rivers — easy to pollute, hard to clean.
Housing people can actually keep
She pushed the RDN to start a review of its 2006 manufactured-home-park redevelopment policy after residents raised the alarm — two years’ notice, clearer compensation, moving costs. She supports stronger tenant protections.
She also speaks up for people in RVs and tiny homes when rules would price them off the land.
“The policies and the decisions that are made by politicians and bureaucrats often impede one’s ability to remain housed.”
Fire and emergency
Directed Area F funding to local fire departments for trucks and equipment so volunteers are equipped without a straight tax hike.
Supported roof and property sprinklers for residents who want extra wildfire protection.
Community halls and kids
Supported hall upgrades across Area F. The new Meadowood Community Hall — about $2.2 million, the largest hall investment in the area — was built as the centre residents asked for, using savings and available funds so the whole cost did not land on taxes.
At the Errington Farmers Market she funded the children’s park and Wild Roots Café. Errington Elementary and homeschool kids named it “Wild Rose Castle,” drew the art on the fence, and watched their ideas get built.
Land and memory
Supported the purchase of Hamilton Marsh for watershed protection.
Supported the regional heritage purchase of the French Creek Heritage School and parklands as a community asset.
A voice outside the boardroom
Meets MLAs and assistant deputy ministers through the year on housing, roads, exotic-animal rules, governance, and water.
Independent — not on a slate.
Incorporation — honest process
Governance and services study completed 2023. Boundary study funded next. She has kept pushing toward an incorporation study and a referendum.
Residents get the numbers. Residents decide.
Why she is running
Honoured. Proud of the work. Not finished.
Leanne has represented Area F for eight years. She will keep Area F at the front of RDN decisions, protect rural character and independence, ask hard questions, and stand firm when a spend or a rule is not in Area F's interest.
“I would be honoured to continue serving the residents of Electoral Area F.”
General voting day
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Advance voting: Wednesday, October 7 and Wednesday, October 14.
If you live in or own property in Area F, you can vote for your Electoral Area Director.
Contact
Call me. Or write.
Questions about water, taxes, halls, roads, or incorporation? Leanne would rather hear it directly.