Frankly Speaking

Finance Minister Bill Morneau has given no indication that controversial tax proposals will be withdrawn. Small business operators who spoke at a consultation meeting were almost universally opposed to the federal Liberals’ plan for tax fairness. The meeting took place Tuesday (Sept. 12) in Langley City, and was hosted by Cloverdale-Langley City MP John Aldag. The Liberal MP said his office has had more correspondence on this topic than any other since he was first elected two years ago. In response to a question from Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce director Jenny Hinch, he said responses to the letters he has received will start going out tomorrow. He had been waiting for a Liberal caucus meeting, which took place last week in Kelowna, before responding, as he knew the issue would be an important one of the agenda there. He also urges anyone wanting to speak about the proposals to send responses to fin.consultation.fin@canada.ca . He asked that people sending responses...

Martini Film Studios puts Langley up there with some big players in the fast-expanding world of made-in-B.C. entertainment projects. The new facility in the former Starline Windows plant on 96 Avenue in Port Kells features no less than eight sound stages. It is the brainchild of Gemma Martini, and almost literally happened overnight because the Martini family also owns Starline. They already owned the land and the building, and they saw a good business opportunity. With some renovations, they are now in business. The studio was shown off to guests at a special opening event on Tuesday. As the North Langley community director for the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce, I was pleased to be invited to attend and am very excited to see firsthand this major boost to the Langley and B.C. economy. The B.C. film industry is responsible for a full 60 per cent of all such work in Canada - a figure considerably higher than I would have believed. The Martini studio itself is expected to creat...