Friday - March 15, 2024 - Progressive hopes for BC Conservatives?

☀️ High 12C

Good morning!

I, as much as anyone, would love to consider myself above this. But I’ve been following along with British royal family drama for the last few weeks. It’s not so much Princess Kate’s mysterious disappearance (I know she probably hasn’t actually disappeared) that has enthralled me. It’s the incredible bungling of the cover-up. Weirdly altered photos? Strange excuses? A supposed mistress? It’s a baroque little social media drama of odd PR choices (with somewhat important implications, depending who you ask). But I’m pretty invested in the outcome.

Remember when I said I was trying to stay off social media? It’s really not going well.

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– Grace

Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

A different kind of BC Conservative candidate

Á’a:líya Warbus wants a seat at the table. What she does if gets there is still an open question. 

Earlier this month, the BC Conservative Party announced its candidates in Chilliwack’s two ridings. Heather Maahs, a Chilliwack school board trustee who has opposed gender neutral washrooms, fits the mold of a candidate for a conservative party whose leader has asked for SOGI educational material to be pulled from schools. But Warbus—a staffer in the Stó:lō Xwexwilmexw Government, an artist, a university instructor, and the director of a film about a Stó:lō trans woman’s search for acceptance—very much does not.

In a system where governments rise and fall on party loyalty, parties rarely nominate candidates whose personal histories and beliefs seem like they might clash with those of their leader and caucus.

Indeed, Warbus doesn’t fit the mold of a provincial or federal candidate in any of Canada’s established parties, which have rarely looked to First Nations for candidates—even in a region like the Fraser Valley with dozens of experienced Stó:lō politicians and administrators.

Now, Warbus is looking to blaze a new path and says she is happy for the Conservatives’ help. But if she ends up in the legislature, she may have to figure out how far she is willing to bend if and when her personal beliefs clash with those of her party.

• Today, Tyler writes about Warbus, her perspective on why Fraser Valley provincial and federal politics has seen few Stó:lō candidates, and how she hopes to reconcile her personal views with those of her party’s leader.

Related

Need to Know

👉️ Abbotsford MP Ed Fast is retiring from federal politics [Global News]

⛳️ A golf course in Langley is for sale for $40 million [Langley Advance Times]

🧑‍⚖️ Canada’s Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a man who assaulted a woman in Langley; the case hinged on the ability of judges to use common sense interpretations about assault victims [Langley Advance Times]

🤖 An AI-inspired art exhibit is running at UFV [Abbotsford News]

🚒 Chilliwack’s fire chief is retiring [Chilliwack Progress]

➡️ A Chilliwack woman who thwarted a robbery received an award from the RCMP [Chilliwack Progress]

🤸 Abbotsford’s Twister Gymnastics is hosting a province-wide gymnastics meet [Abbotsford News]

🚧 Residents on Kilby Road in Kent are asking for improved road safety measures in their neighbourhood [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🚎 A bus driver in Chilliwack was removed from duties after allegedly making inappropriate comments to a young passenger [Fraser Valley Today]

👉️ The Langley Rotary Club honoured Cloverdale MP John Aldag with an award (Aldag is reportedly considering running in the upcoming provincial election) [Langley Advance Times]

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The Agenda

Large Abbotsford townhouse projects going to public hearing

Abbotsford council is set to consider two large proposed townhouse projects in recent times. But public hearings will be held first because the proposals require changes to the city’s Official Community Plan.

Two different development companies have plans to build a combined 214 townhomes on adjacent blocks of land just north of the Sumas Way bypass. 

The sites on a far eastern portion of Maclure Road are currently occupied by nine small acreages. (The stretch of Maclure Road is not connected to the vast bulk of Maclure Road to the west. The two stretches of road are divided by Highway 11.) One block of land would be home to a 145-unit townhouse complex. Another would see a 69-unit complex built. You can find details on the first complex here, and the second complex here.

The two projects would lead to the proposed extension of Maclure Road to Elmwood Drive.

Province plans to reveal info on new Langley schools

After fielding criticism that its spring budget provided few specifics about investments in new schools, the province is preparing to announce more details about upcoming projects in Langley at 10am tomorrow.

💾 Flashback Friday

Princess Margaret visited Chilliwack in July, 1958. Her stop in BC on her seven-province tour of the country marked BC’s centennial. Queen Elizabeth II’s sister, the charismatic princess was a public favourite. BC Centennial festivities during her visit included parties, dances, parades, and a naval review. In 2022, we wrote about a 1951 visit several years later by Queen Elizabeth II.

🗓 Things to do

🎶 Opera: New Hope Cinema in Hope presents a live encore screening of the New York Metropolitan Opera's Nabucco Saturday, March 16 at 10am. Tickets online.

🎞️ Film fest: The Chilliwack Cultural Centre hosts a series of outdoor films shown at Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival on March 16. Tickets online.

🛁 Bath bomb workshop: Deanna Miller of Katzie First Nation is hosting a plant medicine milky bath bomb workshop at the Fort Langley National Historic Site on Saturday, March 16. Details online.

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Catch up

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