Close race for mayor likely in Langley City

Affordable housing and preservation of the existing rental stock have been important issues in the Langley City election. The City has some of the most affordable rental units in the Lower Mainland. It also has a much larger stock of social housing (per capita) than many other cities.

The race for mayor in Langley City will likely be a close one – which should give voters in that community even more incentive than usual to get out to the polls on Saturday.

Former mayor Peter Fassbender is seeking his old job back. Fassbender served as mayor from 2005 until he resigned in January, 2014 (in order to prevent a byelection). He had been elected as a BC Liberal MLA for Surrey-Fleetwood in May, 2013, and served in several cabinet positions during the 2013-17 term of the Christy Clark government. He lost his seat in the 2017 election.

Ted Schaffer took over as acting mayor after Fassbender resigned, and ran and won election as mayor in 2014. He is not running again.

Fassbender is competing for the seat against current councillor Van van den Broek, and Serena Oh, who ran for mayor in Langley Township in 2014. Oh also ran for councillor in a 2016 Langley City byelection, finished dead last (out of nine candidates) and later sued the City over the results. She lost her case in both B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Court of Appeal. Her leave to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada was denied. In the judgment, the City was awarded damages of $6,000, but Oh has yet to pay up. I question why the law permits someone who owes money to a local government to be able to run for office in that particular body. If we can’t get our car insurance renewed without paying outstanding fines and overdue bridge tolls, why can someone ignore a court-ordered payment and run for office in the city they have unsuccessfully sued? Details of the case and her debt can be found here: https://www.langleytimes.com/news/despite-court-orders-city-candidate-hasnt-paid-costs-of-unsuccessful-election-challenge/

Van den Broek has waged a vigorous campaign and has the advantage of not being tied to what is, for many people, still an unpopular provincial party. While Langley City voters tend to vote BC Liberal, the trend over the years has been gradually shifting, and it is no longer a hotbed of support for the party. She is also well-known for her work in the City community policing office. Schaffer has also endorsed her.

The three candidates spoke at the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce meeting on Tuesday. Oh is really only interested in homelessness, but the other two spoke about many issues, ranging from transportation, crime, and housing to small business.

For those still making up their minds, videos of most of the candidates speaking (and answering questions posed by yours truly) are available on the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce website. The chamber did these videos as a public service, to help encourage more people to vote. Three candidates for councillor seats did not take part in the videos.

In my estimation, the race between Fassbender and van den Broek will be close. Every vote will count, and the winning candidate will likely be the one who has made the most effort to get supporters out to the polls.

There are six council seats up for grabs. Five of the six incumbents are running again, as are former councillors Teri James and Rosemary Wallace (who is retiring from her role as a school trustee.) There are nine other candidates, some of whom have past political experience. Andrew Mercier is a former NDP provincial candidate and knows the area well.

A large number of candidates do not live in Langley City. These include James, Dana L. Miller and Randy Caine, all of whom live in Surrey, and David Stingl, who lives in Abbotsford. All have ties to Langley City, but in the past, non-residents who run for council (even incumbents) have been punished by voters in Langley City.

The incumbent councillors are longtime politicians Gayle Martin and Jack Arnold (both have been on council for more than 20 years), Rudy Storteboom, Paul Albrecht (first elected in 2014) and Nathan Pachal (first elected in the 2016 byelection). All are likely to get back in, as name recognition is a potent force in Langley City and voter turnout is traditionally low. It is easy to know voter in the City, given its small size. The sixth person to be elected will likely win by just a few votes, so the winners will be the ones who make solid efforts to get voters out to the polls.

Other candidates for councillor are: Dave Allison, Corey Doherty, Jeff Jacobs, Bruce Kilby and Mike Solyom.

In the race for the two seats on Langley Board of Education, the edge likely goes to incumbent Shelley Coburn and former trustee Candy Ashdown.

The SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) educational resource material has been a simmering issue in the Langley Board of Education races in both the City and Township during this election cycle. Two candidates who oppose the use of SOGI learning resources have been endorsed by Culture Guard, an organization run by culture warrior Kari Simpson, who has been very active in Langley over the past year. They are Sindy Jeffrey and Tony Ward. Ward is also endorsed by the Let’s Vote Association, an anti-SOGI group dominated by members of the Chinese-Canadian community.

The fifth candidate for the board of education is Marshall Austin.

Longtime trustee Rob McFarlane, who has been the most recent chair of the board, is not seeking re-election.