Frankly Speaking

Frank Bucholtz photo Federal infrastructure minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced on Thursday that the federal government will commit to providing $108 million of the $235 million total cost to upgrade Highway 1 to six lanes between 216 and 264 Streets in Langley. Other funding partners are the B.C. government, represented by Premier John Horgan and Transportation Minister Claire Trevena at the ceremony, and the Township of Langley, represented by Mayor Jack Froese. At long last, the NDP government has committed to follow through with a project announced by their predecessors - at least a portion of the project. In March, 2017, the BC Liberal government announced it would widen Highway 1 from four to six lanes as far east as Whatcom Road in Abbotsford. A day afterwards, former transportation minister Todd Stone told CHNL Radio in Kamloops on that the project was “tender-ready” back then. Two years later, the province has announced the widening from 216 to 264 Streets, at...

On a night of many surprising civic election results across the region, there were a few mild surprises in Langley as well. Peter Fassbender failed in his attempt to become Langley City mayor again. While many expected a closer race, incumbent councillor Val van den Broek won the mayor’s chair by a healthy margin. She beat the former three-term mayor and one-term MLA by 206 votes. Also surprising in the City was the defeat of longtime councillor Jack Arnold, who has been a fixture on council for more than two decades. He finished 11 th out of the 16 candidates seeking election to the six councillors’ seats. Former councillors Rosemary Wallace and Teri James join the other four incumbents to form the next council. A third surprise was the second defeat in a row for former school trustee Candy Ashdown. She finished third out of five candidates for the two Langley City positions on the board of education. Newcomer Tony Ward topped the polls, and incumbent trustee Shelley Cobur...

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...

Frank Bucholtz photo Portland's Tri-Met LRT system moves people around the Oregon city very well. But in areas where it runs along streets, it is not particularly fast. Metro Vancouver mayors unanimously agreed to a $2 billion transportation improvement plan on Wednesday. It will improve bus, SkyTrain and SeaBus service, and planning will continue on a rapid tranit extension along Broadway in Vancouver and Surrey LRT lines. Funds for those two mega-projects are yet to materialize, but if and when they do, taxpayers will be on the hook for billions more in spending. If an LRT line is built along Fraser Highway in Surrey and Langley, as proposed, it will put Langley transit users at a significant disadvantage. Langley residents may be getting the short end of the stick with the suggested transportation improvements put forward by the Mayors’ Council. While the addition of bus service to Willoughby is a positive step, and one that is long overdue, the plan to build an LR...