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ELECTION: Langley Township council candidate Eric Woodward

A Voter’s Guide to key election questions.
13958085_web1_180828-LAD-WoodwardCouncil

Eric Woodward

Running for council in Langley Township

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Entrepreneur, businessperson, 45

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• Have you held office in past? If so, please specify: No

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Candidate provided bio: I am a former self-made technology entrepreneur, a believer in environmentally sustainable design, quality construction, and fighting for great, walkable neighbourhoods. Growing up in Langley City, attending Stafford and LSS, Langley is my home.

I was fortunate to have been a part of the emerging internet industry at a young age, with multiple successful companies. After that, I committed myself to revitalizing Fort Langley because it bothered me how neglected it was, even with its obvious, immense potential. We renovated buildings, improved the business mix, and completed the LEED Gold Coulter Berry Building. I believe we need more useful business and development experience such as mine on council, to solve real issues that go on and on and on, like 208th Street.

I’ve just served my fifth year as president of the Fort Langley Business Improvement Association, and have been a director of the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation since 2014.

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Website: ericwoodward.com

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Facebook: @eric.woodward.langley

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Twitter: @ericwoodward

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Other internet/social media platforms where voters can learn about you: Instagram @eric.james.woodward

• Additional videos: Keeping It Real

and All Issues Matter, Big and Small

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Phone: 604-725-3810

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• Who is your favourite superhero, and why? Batman. He does not rely on special powers. He trains, prepares and works hard to be the force for good that he is.

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There are 23 candidates running for eight Langley Township council seats. The following are questions asked of each candidate hopeful. They were directed to provide a minimum of a Yes, No, or Don’t Know answer, and given an option to expand on one answer in print (to a maximum of 100 words per question). They could expand on all questions online, if they wished to do so. The following are their replies.

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Questions and Answers:

1. What neighbourhood of Langley do you live in?

Answer: I live in Fort Langley.

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2. How many years have you lived in Langley?

Answer: 30 Years. I grew up in Langley City, graduated from Langley Senior Secondary, in 1990.

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3. How many Langley Township council meetings have you attended in the past year?

Answer: All of them. I watch the video online live from my office each Monday. I have been attending council

meetings for many years.

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4: Should the municipality be directly funding social housing to reduce homelessness?

Answer: Yes.

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5. Do you support elevated rail over light rapid transit from Surrey to Langley?

Answer: Yes. Elevated rail, or SkyTrain, allows for rapid transit free from conflict with vehicles and pedestrians.

SkyTrain is the chosen infrastructure in the region, and should be continued to Langley as well.

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6. Should the municipality fund an arts centre?

Answer: Yes.

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7. Would you vote to raise taxes to hire more police?

Answer: Yes.

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8. Does Langley need a new or second hospital to serve the growing population?

Answer: Yes. However, if Langley Memorial’s badly needed expansion is properly funded by Fraser Health, this

is likely unnecessary, in conjunction with other regional hospitals.

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9. Does Willoughby need its own dedicated library?

Answer: Yes.

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10. Is there enough effort being made to preserve farmland?

Answer: No.

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11. Should Langley allow construction of residential towers?

Answer: Yes, but only if we offset this vertical density by reducing lower density urban forms elsewhere, for

additional green space and community amenity areas.

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12. Should Langley have its own municipal police force, replacing the RCMP?

Answer: No.

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13. Do you think residential property taxes are too high?

Answer: Yes.

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14. Do you support the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline?

Answer: Yes.

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15. Should the municipality offer tax breaks, incentives, or rebates to companies looking to set up shop here?

Answer: No. The only exception to this is within the Aldergrove core area, where this would be appropriate, if structured responsibly.

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16. Is Langley being pushed to grow too fast?

Answer: Yes.

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17. Do you support redevelopment of Fort Langley’s downtown?

Answer: I must recuse myself from answering this question due to a conflict of interest.

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18. Should development of Brookswood be phased in?

Answer: Yes. However, this is really only necessary if the road infrastructure is not properly planned for first,

and school spaces are not expanded to keep pace with development.

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19. Should the Township set a deadline to finish widening 208th Street in Willoughby?

Answer: Yes. I have proposed a real plan to solve not just 208th Street, but also the four other major roads that in

the exact same state for many years unless we chage the broken model causing this problem.

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20. Should there be a limit to the number of consecutive terms a member of council can serve?

Answer: No. Voters should be able to elect the Councillors they want, that want to continue to serve.