This is the first opportunity I’ve had to comment on the large number of candidates seeking election in Langley Township and Langley City. There are a total of 55 candidates, and three-way races for mayor in both Langley City and Langley Township.
Up until just before the nomination deadline on Oct. 10, it looked like the number of candidates for Langley Township council would be down substantially from the 27 in 2011. It is down — but by just five. There are 22 seeking Township councillor seats.
There are 12 seeking one of the six seats on Langley City council. This level of interest isn’t surprising, given that there are three vacancies on City council.
In the case of the Township, all eight incumbents are running, and former councillor Mel Kositsky, who served for 18 consecutive years, is also in the race. That will make it doubly difficult for any of the other 13 candidates to get enough votes to win a seat.
The Langley City contingent on the Board of Education looked like they would win their seats by acclamation until the last day, when Shelley Coburn decided to challenge incumbents Candy Ashdown and Rob McFarlane.
There are 12 candidates for the five Langley Township seats on the board, which also does not surprise me. There are two vacancies, and the issue of whether any new schools will be built in Willoughby has captured a tremendous amount of interest.
Hopefully, that will lead to a greatly improved turnout at the polls in Willoughby, which traditionally has a very poor voter turnout. Whether residents have lived there for a long time or not, this is an issue that affects all of them — as do other issues there, such as lack of parking and lack of transit service. I understand that some of the candidates trying to attend an all-candidates meeting at Willoughby Hall on Friday night didn’t make it, because they could not find any parking.
The Times is inviting candidates to submit press releases and photos, and publishing stories about each of them in our newspaper, at no cost to them. (We also welcome their paid advertising.) We have yet to hear from six of them. They need to send a press release and photo by this Friday in order for it to appear in our print edition.
Online, there is an opportunity to look at the stories about all the candidates who have submitted information to us, along with other election-related stories. It can be found on The Times website, www.langleytimes.com, by going to the Election 2014 section.
There were a few hiccups in getting that portion of the website up and running properly, but it should be in good order by the time you read this.
Once again, I am asking people to consider voting — even if they have not voted before, or done so rarely. If they feel overwhelmed by the number of candidates, and many do, the best thing to do is select one or two candidates they favour for council and the board of education seats, and just vote for them. Voters do not have to choose eight for Langley Township council, or six for Langley City council.
We will be stuck with the winners for four years, so let’s pick some good ones. An informed vote is of immense value.