Fort Langley all-candidates meeting scheduled

The Oct. 17 civic elections are fast approaching, and local organizations like the Fort Langley Community Association (FLCA) are beginning to arrange for all-candidates meetings. At its Tuesday, Aug. 11 meeting, the FLCA finalized its event to take place on Monday, Sept. 21, at the Fort Langley Community Hall. Doors open at 5:45 p.m., and the Q&A sessions for council candidates will start at 6:30 p.m. A similar Q&A for mayoral candidates will run from 8:00-8:45 p.m. FLCA president Sue MacKenzie said the organization’s group is to be the voice of the Fort as a community, and further communications between the Township, residents, and businesses. They’ll be collecting questions from the community in the lead-up to the all-candidates meeting. FLCA members will sort through the questions to eliminate duplicates, and those questions will be sent to the candidates in advance of the meeting. At the event itself, random questions will be drawn for each candidate. With a likely field of more than 20 people running for council, there’s no way to ask all of them the same question and still cover a variety of topics. The same system will apply for the mayoral candidates. The public will be able to attend and watch, in the hall or virtually. “It will be livestreamed, so there will be an opportunity for people to see it from afar,” MacKenzie said. The livestream notice will go out via the FLCA’s newsletter and to members, as well as posted on its website and social media. The event is expected to be one of several all-candidates meetings in Langley covering Township, City, and school board hopefuls. The Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce is also finalizing dates for its events, and groups ranging from environmental organizations to seniors groups have traditionally held debates or forums during election season.