Lynn Whitehouse's influence has been enormous in Langley
After more than 30 years of managing Greater Langley Chamber
of Commerce, Lynn Whitehouse is retiring.
As was noted at a retirement party for her Thursday (June
16), she touched and changed a lot of lives during that period. Her friend,
well-known speaker Peter Legge, likened her to George Bailey in the classic
movie It’s a Wonderful Life, whose influence in a town he stayed in largely out
of loyalty was far more than he had ever realized.
In many communities, the chamber of commerce is seen as exclusively
a voice for the business community, with little interest in non-profits, social
issues or the health of the overall community. That is not the case in Langley.
Whitehouse (#LangleyLynn online) has been key to ensuring
that the chamber has a strong connection with non-profits and community events.
Langley is a very giving community, as has been proven again and again, and she
has used the connectivity the chamber excels at to boost the profile and ensure
the success of innumerable fundraisers for worthy causes.
In doing so, she did not forget the importance of the
business community. She has urged chamber members and boards to take strong
stands on many issues, with one of the most recent and most successful being
pressure on the federal government to keep the Aldergrove border crossing open
for commercial transactions.
The government had all but finalized its decision to turn
the crossing into an individual traveller-only crossing, with commercial entries
directed to either the Pacific Highway or Huntingdon crossings. More clearly than
anyone else, she saw how that would lessen many advantages held by Langley
businesses, and fought back with every means at her disposal.
The Aldergrove crossing offers a direct route to and from
the U.S. from Gloucester industrial Park, and is convenient for virtually all
Langley businesses. Losing the ability to bring in goods or export through
Aldergrove would have been a significant blow, and likely would have had a
significant impact on the local economy.
She consistently urged her board to submit resolutions to both
the B.C. and Canadian chambers of commerce which would benefit Langley businesses,
and to lobby local governments. One issue that she championed was mobile
business licences for tradespeople – something that has been adopted by an increasing
number of municipalities in the Lower Mainland, and is a massive benefit for
small businesses.
Voting has also been on her radar screen. The chamber
sponsored a series of events, most notably lunch meetings with the leaders of
the three major political parties as the 2013 provincial election approached,
to boost voter participation. It also urged its members to get their employees
to vote. It continued to do so in the 2014 municipal election campaign, and
voter interest and turnout in Langley did go up in both elections.
She encouraged members of her staff, and members of the chamber,
to engage in personal development and growth – a point made clearly by numerous
speakers at Thursday’s event. She also was sought out by current and wannabe
politicians for one-on-one meetings, about specific issues and about potential
candidacies. On every occasion, her first question was “Why?”
Over her years as chamber manager and executive director,
she oversaw numerous moves, participation in innumerable community events, a building
fund which allowed the chamber to move a year ago into a new office near 200
Street and 80 Avenue while remaining debt-free, and amalgamation with the Fort
Langley and Aldergrove chambers.
She did all this while remaining careful with her words and
actions, encouraging of new business operators, gracious and direct with politicians
and the media, and hard-working in the extreme.
She has indeed touched many lives – and she has made Langley
a much better place than it was 30 years ago. Here’s wishing her a very happy
retirement, and hoping she will stay involved in the community while enjoying
more time with her family and her precious grandchildren.
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