Frankly Speaking

Frank Bucholtz photo B.C.'s Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley area is one of the most beautiful and blessed areas in the entire world, in my humble and far from objective opinion. This photo of the Golden Ears mountains, covered in fresh snow, was taken Dec. 29.   A happy new year to everyone. Thanks for checking out my blog posts, if only occasionally. I appreciate the support and feedback. I've posted 57 times this year, with almost all of them coming after retiring from The Langley Times as editor on June 30. I wanted to keep an oar in the water, and like almost all writers, I'm happiest when putting something together. Blogging offers the previously unparalleled opportunity to put your thoughts together and post the completed item online for anyone to see. You then find out, in a very specific way, if what you write and think about strikes any chords with people. Most of the subjects I've posted on are quite local in nature. That's my area of experti...

The year ahead will be a pivotal one in Surrey, Delta, Langley and White Rock. The area will keep growing at a steady pace. A recent survey conducted by B.C. Business magazine shows that Surrey is the seventh-best place for work in B.C., while Delta was rated eighth. Both are well ahead of Vancouver, which came in 17 th . Growth in Surrey, in particular, has been very strong for most of the past decade, with much of the business activity due to construction in the residential sector. Strong population growth is likely to continue in 2016. And of course, when there are more people, there is a need for more services. That means there are opportunities for new businesses, and a need for more public investment. Schools are needed, and construction of new schools and additions will go ahead in the coming year. There is also a need for more road and transit infrastructure. The defeat of the TransLink referendum this past year was a setback for extension of rapid transit in Surre...

Frank Bucholtz photo Jose Figueroa and his daughter face a battery of television cameras Wednesday, after he was given freedom from deportation by Canada Border Services Agency. He has been taking refuge at Walnut Grove Lutheran Church for the past two years. Jose Figueroa walked out of Walnut Grove Lutheran Church today (Dec. 23), on his 49th birthday. He is a free man. More than two years after taking sanctuary, the Langley City man, who has been in Canada for 18 years, was finally assured by the federal government that he would not be arrested and deported to his native El Salvador. An earlier decision said he was a member of what Canada once considered a terrorist organization. That organization is now the democratically-elected government of El Salvador. There was a large turnout this afternoon to see him symbolically walk out of the church, then go back inside for some intensive media coverage. The media deserves a lot of credit for the ongoing publicity they have given ...

Ministry of Transportation rendering An artist's rendering shows the new Deas Island bridge. If it opens in 2022 as promised, without a proper road pricing or fair tolling system in place, residents South of the Fraser will be even more unfairly impacted by tolls. The provincial government should get its ducks in a row. That means it needs to have a clear and fair tolling policy in place before opening yet another toll bridge between the South Fraser region and the rest of Metro Vancouver. Wednesday’s announcement that a new 10-lane bridge will replace the Massey Tunnel, and that it will be tolled, is another reminder of how hypocritical and discriminatory the government’s current tolling policy is. Work on the new bridge will begin in 2017, and it is expected to open by 2022. Currently, there are just two tolled bridges in B.C. One is the new Port Mann Bridge, built and operated by the province through the Transportation Investment Corporation (TReO). The other is the...

The end of the work week is proving much better than the start was for Sources Langley Food Bank. Last weekend, the food bank's van was stolen. In a separate incident, $1,000 worth of gift cards were stolen, and a gas card in the stolen van was taken and the food bank was charged to the tune of $1,300. However, the food bank shared the news about these thefts with the public, via local and provincial media, and the response has been amazing. A loaner van from Mercedes Benz and another from Willowbrook Chrysler are in use to pick up donations of food, and another van has been donated by a group of local business people. It will replace the stolen van, which was recovered on Saturday but is not driveable at present. Save-On-Foods replaced the stolen gift cards and donated $500 more. In addition, many generous people and businesses both within and outside Langley have chipped in to donate food and money to Sources, to ensure that no one in need goes hungry this Christmas. Envisi...

Photo from Fraser Surrey Docks website It seems unlikely that a coal export facility will ever be built at Fraser Surrey Docks, given the recent global agreement on how to reduce carbon emissions and China`s stated objective of reducing the amount of coal it burns to provide electricity. Canada is among the 195 countries signing on to a worldwide plan to reduce carbon emissions, and attempt to keep global temperatures from rising. The accord, reached in Paris after two weeks of intensive talks, calls for significant reductions in emissions from coal, natural gas and oil. It also calls for preservation and replanting of forests, transparency and regular five-year reviews of how countries are progressing, and an unspecified but significant subsidy from richer countries to poorer ones. The new federal Liberal government wants to move forward and have an implementation plan in place, together with the provinces, in 90 days. Thus this accord will have a very significant eff...

Bill Bennett’s time as premier of B.C. ended almost 30 years ago, in the summer of 1986. The era in which he governed is a distant memory to some. For others, it was long before their time. Bennett died on Dec. 3 at the age of 83. He had been mostly out of the public spotlight since leaving the premier’s office. However, his 10 and one half-years as premier led to B.C. truly entering the modern era that we are part of today. It turned B.C. into much more than a resource-based economy, and the province’s political apparatus also changed dramatically. These changes had a significant effect on Surrey, Delta and White Rock. Decisions made by his government still have a direct effect on this region. The biggest single change came as a result of two related decisions - the decision to host a world’s fair called Expo 86 on former rail yard land in downtown Vancouver, and the decision to build a rapid transit line called SkyTrain. Expo was controversial. A number of politicians an...

  Sources Food Bank photo A van used by Sources Langley Food Bank was stolen on Friday, one of several calamities the organization has suffered in the past week. A fundraiser and chance to donate food to the organization is planned on Thursday at Jimy Mac's Pub in North Langley, from 4 to 6 p.m. A Christmas fundraiser for the Sources Langley Food Bank takes place this Thursday – and it couldn’t come at a better time. As reported by the Langley Times online today, the food bank, which initially set up shop in Langley in September, 2014, has been hit by a terrible series of calamities in the past week. Gift cards were stolen Thursday, the food bank’s van was stolen Friday, its gas card was used illicitly to the tune of $1,300 and the van itself, after being found abandoned in Aldergrove on Saturday, isn’t driveable at present. See   http://www.langleytimes.com/news/361964391.html for more detail. Sources has been operating its food bank from the United Churc...