Frankly Speaking

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. Fassbe...

Frank Bucholtz photo The sun sets on the sign announcing that a new Maddaugh Road Elementary school will be built on 76 Avenue in Clayton - and be open by September, 2019. However, no contract has been awarded to build the school and it is highly doubtful it will open on the advertised date. Capital funding for new schools is the major issue in the election of new trustees to the Surrey Board of Education. School board elections are an afterthought for the vast majority of voters. This is true even in Surrey, which has the largest public school system in B.C. and continues to grow rapidly. The major issue in Surrey revolve around growth. As the city continues to approve development applications, schools gradually become even more crowded. The supply of new schools simply is not keeping up with the number of students showing up at the doors. I can see this in my own neighbourhood of Clayton. This area has grown rapidly in the past 15 years, as East Clayton developed wi...

Frank Bucholtz photo Cheryl Snowdon-Eddy responds to a question at the Fort Langley candidates' meeting for candidates for the Langley Board of Education. The meeting took place Thursday. Also in photo are candidates (from left) David Tod, Suzanne Perreault and Rod Ross.   Candidates for Langley Board of Education likely faced their biggest audience of the current election campaign at Fort Langley Community Hall Thursday. About 200 people were on hand to hear the seven hopefuls for the five Langley Township seats on the board of education. The other two trustees are elected by the voters of Langley City. The meeting was also live streamed on Facebook and can be seen online at https://www.facebook.com/fortlangleycommunityhall/videos/1967541089970543/ Topics covered at the meeting included teacher retention, secondary and middle school options for Fort Langley students, difficulty enrolling in the Fine Arts School in Fort Langley, sexual orientation and gender identity...

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 ...