SCRD Shadow Director: How Landon Dix Staged a Coup for Financial Benefit
Transcript
In the summer of 2021, the Halfmoon Bay Community Association was led by its president, Linda McMahon. Publicly, a resident named Landon Dix was an early vocal supporter of McMahon's political potential, writing, Linda, you would be an amazing Area B director. At the time, the sitting Area B director was Lori Pratt. In March 2022, Pratt hosted a public information session on rural subdivision, drawing a crowd of around 75 citizens.
Following that presentation, Landon Dix posted a lengthy critique, stating nothing had progressed and he received no real answers. He demanded, we need to be represented by someone more qualified. We need someone who can take initiative. In the same thread, Linda McMahon stepped in to validate his complaints. When another resident thanked McMahon and Dix, asking how to support them, the association's administrator answered directly,
become a member of the Halfmoon Bay Community Association. Months before the fall election, a visible network of community figures had successfully built a public record of demanding a change in leadership. This pressure culminated on April 6, 2022, during a town hall organized by the Community Association. Linda McMahon hosted the event, with Director Pratt and the local MLA in attendance. During her opening remarks, McMahon took a moment to thank the association's volunteers.
Specifically, she singled out Justine from the farm stand, who had recently helped raise money through donut sales. McMahon's activism continued to accelerate. Days after the town hall, she urged residents to show up and oppose local zoning developments. Returning to the town hall, the question-and-answer session began. McMahon opened the floor, ensuring Landon Dix had priority access to the microphone. McMahon called him out as being first in line.
Dix immediately returned the favor, thanking her and calling her an awesome host. Later in that exact same meeting, a critical disruption occurred. A member of the association accused Director Pratt's alternate of holding a conflict of interest. Director Pratt went on the record to defend her staff, explicitly telling the room, do not call into question the ethics of my alternate. That single evening connected the association president, a vocal challenger, and a volunteer named Justine.
It also cemented the ethics of an alternate director as a high-profile concern for the community. By September 2022, following months of sustained public pressure, sitting director Lori Pratt announced she would not run for re-election. On October 7th, Justine Gabias entered the race. Her candidate profile described her as a market gardener and small business owner who had lived in the area for two and a half years. It was her first political campaign.
Eight days later, on October 15th, the first-time candidate was elected as the new Area B director. The administrative shifts began exactly 16 days later, on October 31st. Looking at the official British Columbia corporate registry notices for that specific date reveals the post-election timeline. At 10:33 a.m., Landon Dix incorporated a new private company, Landon Dix Projects Limited. The vocal critic who spent the spring demanding a politician with initiative launched his new business just two weeks after his network's preferred candidate won the seat.
The spring demands for a highly qualified political veteran had resulted in the election of a complete novice, and her victory arrived in parallel with the sudden business incorporation of her most public supporter. Around November 2022, shortly after taking office, Director Gabias officially appointed Landon Dix as her alternate director. He moved into the alternate director's chair at nearly the exact same time he incorporated his new design project company.
The late Rob Gillis, a lifelong resident of Halfmoon Bay, and a dedicated local historian, documented how these new political relationships operated behind the scenes. So she told me that Landon is her alternate. So she was heading to Landon's house to have a meeting with him. Gillis also logged the long-term status of these alliances in written correspondence from May of 2024. Assessing the shifting power dynamics, he noted that the former Community Association president, Linda McMahon, was pals with Justine Gabias.
The network that organized a town hall to question the ethics of the previous administration's alternate had successfully installed a first-time candidate, placing their harshest critic directly into the alternate's chair. In spring 2022, Landon Dix told Linda McMahon she would be an amazing Area B director, and told the community it needed someone more qualified. Six months later, a first-time candidate won, and he became her alternate.
How was the alternate chosen? At the HBCA's town hall, the director's alternate was accused of a conflict of interest. Has the HBCA ever raised the same question about this alternate, whose own company drew plans that came before this board? Who decides who sits in the director's chair when she is away, and who checks?