Langley City council contenders make their pitch to the public

Candidates seeking seats on Langley City council had a chance to outline their visions for the community at an all-candidates forum Monday evening. The Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce and the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board co-hosted the Oct. 5 event at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Most candidates attended. Independent Bruce Downing had told organizers he was out of town that day. Mayoral candidates’ comments are covered in a separate story.

Candidates received the same number of questions, on topics including growth, housing density, public safety, taxes, spending, slates, SkyTrain, council infighting and the relationship with the Township. The independent candidates are Downing, Jennifer Denman, Gurjit Dhillon, Val van den Broek and Samuel Otim.

Van den Broek said council needs new people and has raised taxes too much in recent years. She said she endorsed mayoral candidate Delaney Mack, having served on council with incumbent Mayor Nathan Pachal. Mack leads Achieving for Langley City. Slate members Simi Rajput, Michael Hylands, Andrew Flitton, Rick Orlando and Scott Thompson all live in the City. The other slate, Langley City First, is led by Pachal and includes Paul Albrecht, Rosemary Wallace, Shawn Caldera, Heather Jenkins, Jeff Jacobs and Mike Solyom.

The rising cost of living underpinned many of the topics. Van den Broek, a civilian employee with the RCMP who also spoke about public safety, said tax increases of 38.52 per cent over the past four years are unsustainable.

Rajput criticized the City’s planning decisions in recent years, pointing to a new 300-unit complex on church property at 200 Street and 50 Avenue. “I want to bring in practical leadership, affordability, accountability, and focus on getting the basics right,” she said.

Caldera outlined Langley City First’s position on housing. He said the slate wants an ongoing conversation with residents about how to build gentle density, with options beyond single-family homes, condos or apartments, including row homes and laneway homes. He said new housing should accommodate population growth without displacing businesses.

Thompson said provincially mandated higher density would ruin existing neighbourhoods and is not the way to proceed. He said it would overload schools and infrastructure. If that is what the province wants, he said, it should provide funding for the added density, schools, roads and infrastructure.

Wallace defended the development decision, saying the project would provide much-needed housing and enhance part of the community. She said the preference had been for a four-storey apartment building, but the project only worked as a six-storey development. It would also include amenity spaces, child care and other things the community needs.

Hylands, an engineer, said the City is not listening to residents. Council should be open, receptive and transparent, he said, and do more than meet legislative minimums. “You can get to high school doing the very minimum; that’s no way to run a successful business or city,” he said.

Albrecht and other Langley City First candidates described the slate as independent and said they want to keep the City independent. “We are experiencing polarized times with outside electoral organizations threatening our city’s historical governance,” Albrecht said.

Otim, who has a PhD in economics, said his focus is community, smart growth and responsive government. Asked about SkyTrain, he said a connected city needs to consider the wider transportation network, including buses that take people to and from stations, sidewalks for those who can walk, and where riders will park after taking SkyTrain.

Solyom said council has been working on community infrastructure, including bike lanes for safe travel. He said the City’s official community plan calls for multi-use paths in new developments along major corridors, including 200 and 208, for people on bikes, in wheelchairs, on scooters and on e-scooters, providing them with a safe place to travel.

Orlando said spending requires balance. Before taking on debt as a councillor, he said, he and colleagues would ask whether a project is essential, whether the City can afford it, what it will cost to operate and what would be given up by borrowing. He said taxpayers deserve that balance and full transparency.

Flitton said the community needs to focus on the basics: safer streets, reliable infrastructure, responsible spending and a place where businesses can succeed. Denman criticized a proposed arts centre and pool expansion as projects the community cannot afford, pursued instead of critical issues affecting residents. “We do not need this right now,” she said. “We have infrastructure that we need to have in place, so why are we borrowing money and putting ourselves in debt when we haven’t even dealt with the real problems here? This is not fair to people who live here.”

Dhillon raised concerns about municipal waste. He said arts and recreation spaces should keep up with population growth, and that people need places to gather, play and connect. But he questioned where the money would come from, saying there was considerable leakage through spending on litigation, internal conflicts and staff time.

Jacobs, who works for the Township, said he would pursue infrastructure and safety spending. As a municipal worker, he said, he had seen what budget cuts can do: a road that was supposed to be replaced or repaired may suddenly no longer be worked on.

Jenkins, who owns a downtown business, said the Fraser Highway one-way redevelopment has improved public safety. She said that over the past four years, she and other business owners had seen fewer break-ins and fewer homeless people on the streets. She attributed that to more police and fire services and other amenities, which she said improved residents’ quality of life. She added that the City is on the right track to having enough police and fire services for the start of SkyTrain.

The hosts filmed the forum and posted it on YouTube. The related document is Langley_Chamber_2026_Candidate_Briefing_City.pdf: http://d2c5bjhxsvq0ez.cloudfront.net/360_Carpenter_Live/files/0/0/0/0/0/82/Langley_Chamber_2026_Candidate_Briefing_City.pdf.