Frankly Speaking

Peter Fassbender's decision to run again for mayor of Langley City is one of the more noteworthy aspects of the municipal election campaigns in the two Langleys, thus far. This blog post has been updated to reflect the final list of candidates, after nominations closed on Friday. The upcoming municipal election in the two Langleys will be interesting, but not as lively as many other contests in the region. One reason is that there is not really much of a contest for mayor in Langley Township. Incumbent Jack Froese has two challengers, but neither (Alex Joehl and Anna Remenik) is well-known and it is unlikely he will get less than 70 per cent of the vote (assuming no other challengers come forward by Friday, the close of nominations). Seven of the eight councillors are running for re-election. They are Petrina Arnason, Michelle Sparrow, Blair Whitmarsh, Angie Quaale, Bob Long, David Davis and Kim Richter. Only Charlie Fox is retiring. As two of the challengers are ...

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...

Photo by Liane Bisaillon Harry Hunt was a photographer for the Aldergrove Star for over 25 years, and for even longer than that, he was an advocate and encourager of young people in sports. He was almost certainly the best-known person in Aldergrove, as was attested by the crowd at his memorial service on Sunday. Harry Hunt demonstrated the finest elements of humanity in his 75 years. He cared about people, particularly young people; he did not betray confidences; he never stopped advocating for his home community of Aldergrove; and he worked until physically unable to do so. Even when dying of cancer and knowing he had just a little time left, he was pulling out the stops to make sure his family was fully taken care of. And in addition to all that, he was an outstanding representative of the community newspaper industry which I have been privileged to be part of for the past 38 years. For the past 25 years, he has been a freelance photographer for the Aldergrove Star ....