Thursday - April 10, 2025 - A new bus for Hope-area students

Author

Tyler Olsen
April 10, 2025

COLLIERS

🌧 High 15C | Local forecast

Good morning!

I've previously written about how I have an ambivalent relationship to my familial history. But that was before yesterday, when I was told my great-great-grandfather once won the Fraser Valley’s most-important (to me, as of yesterday) contest: the Chilliwack Plowing Match. I learned this after I saw that a member of my extended family had placed third in this year’s edition. I sent the news article to my mom, who sent it to her cousin who, in turn, shared the information about Thomas McDonald’s plowing prowess.

I have yet to dig up any non-oral evidence of ol’ Tommy’s victory, which would have been in the very first plowing contests. So if you have a lead, let me know. If you don’t, that might be for the best. Who needs facts when you have family lore?

– Tyler

News

After a cull, where do new chicks come from?

Chicken breasts are still at the meat counter. Eggs are still snug in their cardboard cartons next to the milk. Unlike the United States, avian influenza doesn’t appear to have wreaked much havoc on Canadian grocery store shelves.

But inside the industry, it’s a different story.

Farmers who have lost flocks are having a hard time restocking their farms with chickens. And farms that raise chicken for meat are facing the most challenges to replace what they’ve lost.

Related

Canadian dairy farmers brace for bird flu after a year of American outbreaks

From February: Since last year, American cattle have been catching and spreading avian influenza. Canadian farmers say concern is growing about the virus making its way across the border.

'We can’t just wait for nature': How BC science and farmers are battling the bird flu epidemic

In the Fraser Valley, scientists and poultry producers are working in parallel to find new ways to bring the ongoing waves of avian influenza to its knees

Need to Know

🚒 A trio of Chilliwack firefighters were awarded Canada’s Medal of Bravery for saving nine people during a 2021 apartment fire [Chilliwack Progress]

⛔ No one was injured when an SUV crashed into a Langley clothing store [Langley Advance Times]

👏 A pair of Abbotsford residents have been praised for their efforts picking up garbage in Princeton [Abbotsford News]

🐴 A sharp-eyed resident caused Langley Township to reverse plans to ban horses from its roads [Aldergrove Star]

🥁 A Chilliwack school drum crew claimed top prize at a regional competition last weekend [Chilliwack Progress]

🔊 Dozens of people spoke at a six-hour-long public hearing on a large apartment building proposed for a Langley City church site [Langley Advance Times]

🚔 An Abbotsford man has been charged with more than a dozen offences, including four counts of child luring [Abbotsford News]

👉 Hope’s CIBC is closing and hosting a meeting for concerned clients [Hope Standard]

📷 CURRENT CAM: Congrats to Gerry Borden, who was first to identify yesterday’s Current Cam aerial shot of Bluff Park in northern Langley.

🗳 Election 2025

The federal election campaign continues until election day on Monday, April 28. Advance voting will take place over the Easter weekend, from Friday, April 18 to Monday, April 21. Find everything you need to know—including where to vote—by visiting one of our local election hubs:

The latest

👉 CORRECTION: In yesterday’s newsletter, we provided a link to an all-candidates forum for Mission-Matsqui-Abbotsford riding, but incorrectly wrote that the forum was for the Abbotsford-South Langley riding. Sorry for any confusion. You can find a video of the all-candidates meeting here. An all-candidates meeting for the Abbotsford-South Langley riding will be held on April 23.

👉 The deadline has passed for candidates to submit papers to run in the election; our hubs have been updated with complete lists of candidates. Here are the candidates, as they appear on the Elections Canada website:

Cloverdale—Langley City

  • Tamara Jansen—Conservative Party of Canada

  • Kyle Latchford—Liberal Party of Canada

  • Jim McMurtry—People’s Party of Canada

  • Vanessa Sharma—New Democratic Party of Canada

  • Kevin Daniel Wilkie—Green Party of Canada

Langley Township—Fraser Heights

  • John Aldag—Liberal Party of Canada

  • Sepehr Haghighat—People’s Party of Canada

  • Holly Isaac—New Democratic Party of Canada

  • Alex Joehl—Libertarian Party of Canada

  • Debora Soutar—Green Party of Canada

  • Tako Van Popta—Conservative Party of Canada

Mission—Matsqui—Abbotsford

  • Brad Vis—Conservative Party of Canada

  • Jeff Howe—Liberal Party of Canada

  • Kevin Sinclair—People’s Party of Canada

  • Jules Côté—New Democratic Party of Canada

  • John Kidder—Green Party of Canada

Chilliwack—Hope

  • Christopher Adam—United Party of Canada

  • Salina Derish—Green Party of Canada

  • Jeff Galbraith—People’s Party of Canada

  • Zeeshan Khan—Liberal Party of Canada

  • Mark Strahl—Conservative Party of Canada

  • Teri Westerby—New Democratic Party of Canada

Abbotsford—South Langley

  • Sukhman Gill—Conservative Party of Canada

  • Kevin Gillies—Liberal Party of Canada

  • Aeriol Alderking—People’s Party of Canada

  • Dharmasena Yakandawela—New Democratic Party of Canada

  • Melissa Snazell—Green Party of Canada

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The Agenda

The Fraser-Cascade School District has more bus riders than its vehicles can fit. 📷 Alfred Kirst III/Shutterstock

Eastern Fraser Valley students to get new bus

Kids on school buses in the Fraser-Cascade School District are about to have a little more space.

The Ministry of Education recently approved a new bus for the district. Currently, the region’s four bus routes have 420 riders but only 313 spots. The capacity issues have required the district to use its single spare school bus to alleviate overcrowding.

District secretary treasurer Gerry Slykhuis said the new route will take pressure off over-capacity routes. The new bus won’t just be plunked down in Hope, though: instead, Slykhuis said that all routes will be evaluated over the next few months and adjusted to get the most efficient system.

The new bus will cost nearly $200,000.

You can share this newsletter by forwarding it or copy and pasting this link—https://fvcurrent.com/p/april-10-2025/—into a social media post.

🗓 Things to do

Choir music: Elektra Women's Choir returns to Agassiz for a concert with the Cheam Vista Classical Concert Society on Saturday, April 12. Details and tickets online.

Sing Street screening: The Abbotsord Film Society hosts a screening of Sing Street April 11 at the Banquet Room. Tickets online.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

Province confirms plans to build massive new plant and animal health lab in Abbotsford

From Monday: A new facility will replace smaller lab damaged during the 2021 Sumas Prairie flood.

That’s it!

Thanks for reading Fraser Valley Current today ♥️ 

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Tyler Olsen

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