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Bring back an all-Langley riding, City council demands

City submission argues for a return to a single riding that includes City and Township
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Langley City council wants a return to an all-Langley federal riding that includes both the City and Township. (Langley Advance Times file)

Langley City council wants a return to an all-Langley federal riding that includes both the City and Township.

Just-released minutes of a special Sept. 20 City Council meeting, held a few days before the Sept. 22 Federal Election Boundary Commission hearing in Langley, show a vote in support of a Coun. Gayle Martin proposal that objects to a proposed Langley — Cloverdale riding with part of Surrey, all of the City, and part of the Township.

Both Langleys used to be a single federal riding represented by one MP before they were split in two in 2012, creating the Langley — Aldergrove and Cloverdale — Langley city ridings..

“The City of Langley and the Township of Langley should be one electoral boundary represented by one Member of Parliament given the historical context, the number of shared services, shared school district, shared RCMP detachment, and shared regional city centre designation between the two communities,” the Martin motion reads.

READ ALSO: Go back to drawing board on quirky Pitt Meadows-Langley federal riding: public feedback

The proposed electoral reconfiguration will “further split the riding into multiple electoral boundaries from the current electoral boundaries and create further challenges for the Member of Parliament that needs to represent three municipalities within the riding,” the motion argued.

In a written submission to the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission the City asks “to consider reconfiguring the electoral boundaries to have one boundary for the City of Langley and the Township of Langley, and be represented by one Member of Parliament”

“We’ll see what happens,” Martin told the Langley Advance Times.

READ ALSO: MPs urge people to speak up on controversial planned Pitt Meadows-Fort Langley riding

Electoral Boundaries Commissions in each province re-draw the maps every 10 years after the Canadian Census.

Under the new proposed realignments, Langley-Aldergrove would expand to the east, including much more of western Abbotsford.

The riding of Cloverdale-Langley City, would also change its shape.

A new proposed riding of Pitt Meadows-Fort Langley has generated controversy with a proposed shape that would include all of Langley north of Highway One, along with a chunk of northeastern Surrey, Barnston Island, parts of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, and a slice of Port Coquitlam.


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Dan Ferguson

About the Author: Dan Ferguson

Best recognized for my resemblance to St. Nick, I’m the guy you’ll often see out at community events and happenings around town.
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