Frankly Speaking

Darryl Plecas Update: Darryl Plecas spoke to The Abbotsford News' Tyler Olsen about his decision to become Speaker, shedding new light on how it all happened and on his conversation with BC Liberal interim leader Rich Coleman the night before the Legislature resumed sitting. The whole story can be read here . Darryl Plecas, MLA for Abbotsford South, surprised just about everyone today by running for and being elected Speaker of the B.C. Legislature. He represents Aldergrove in the legislature, as well as a large portion of Abbotsford. I think he will do a good job as Speaker. He has not joined the NDP or Greens - he is the Speaker, which is a non-partisan position and involves managing how the legislature operates. I have run into Darryl many times over the years, going back to our days at Douglas College in the 1970s. His family has a long history in the Fleetwood area of Surrey. He has had a great career as a criminology professor at the University of the Fr...

One night after the B.C. party leaders’ debate, the four candidates in the new Langley East riding gathered Thursday to give their positions on a large number of issues, at an all-candidates’ meeting sponsored by Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce and the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board. The candidates are Rich Coleman of the BC Liberals, who has represented Fort Langley-Aldergrove in the B.C. legislature since 1996; Inder Johal of the NDP; Bill Masse of the Green Party and Alex Joehl of the Libertarians. The former Fort Langley-Aldergrove riding was renamed because it no longer includes Aldergrove – that portion of Langley is now in the Abbotsford South riding. Inder Johal is the daughter of Amrik Mahil, who ran for the NDP in the Surrey-Panorama riding in 2013, placing second to Marvin Hunt of the BC Liberals. He told me his daughter was determined to represent the NDP as a candidate in this election. Moderator Scott Johnston, president of the chamber, asked all the quest...

One of these three people will serve as B.C.'s next premier. We will likely know which one has won the voters' approval for the job sometime late in the evening on Tuesday, May 9. At top is BC Liberal leader Christy Clark, who has been premier since 2011. In the middle is NDP leader John Horgan. At the bottom is Green Party leader Andrew Weaver. I was privileged to be asked to moderate an all-candidates' meeting for candidates in the two main Langley ridings, sponsored by Langley Seniors Community Action Table. It was organized by Marilyn Fischer and other memers of the round table. They did a superb job. It took place today (April 19) at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Langley City. About 90 seniors, plus two members each of Langley City and Langley Township councils, were on hand. Eight of the nine candidates in the Langley and Langley East ridings were on hand. Inder Johal, the NDP candidate in Langley East, was sick and unable to attend. Unlike m...

The Langley Good Times Cruise-In has attracted huge crowds to Langley City over the past 20 years. Langley Advance file photo The suggested relocation of the Langley Good Times Cruise-in to Aldergrove would be great news for Aldergrove. It would not be good news for Langley City. It appears that there is no chance Cruise-In will take place in the City this year. Society president Wayne Patterson has stated his group will either move to Aldergrove or not operate the highly successful car show and community event at all. It may well be the end of the line for the event, if it does not work out to move to Aldergrove. He said the City was simply asking Cruise-In to absorb too many costs. In particular, asking the society to pay a portion of policing costs for Friday night was too much for the directors to stomach. Considering that Cruise-In does not have any Friday night activities in Langley City, their reluctance to pay for any policing costs is completely reasonable. W...

Premier Christy Clark's job is on the line. Voters in 87 B.C. ridings will decide on May 9 if her government deserves another term. The 2017 provincial election takes place on May 9 – less than three months from now. Yet in Langley, the level of political activity thus far has been quite subdued. Perhaps the biggest change is that one of the two Langley ridings has been renamed, and significant portions of eastern Langley are no longer part of the former Fort Langley-Aldergrove riding. The riding, in place since 1991, has been renamed Langley East. All of Langley Township east of 248 Street and south of Highway 1 is now located in the Abbotsford South riding, while the portion east of 264 Street and north of Highway 1 is in the Abbotsford West riding. This effectively takes Aldergrove out of Langley, for provincial purposes. While this seems strange, considering that the two Langleys have been served by two ridings continuously since the 1991 election, it is not with...