Tuesday - April 29, 2025 - Abbotsford plots new sports park

🌧 High 15C | Local forecast

Good morning!

How do you reckon with an event like that in Vancouver on Saturday evening? Everyone deals with it differently, of course. For me, I’m sad for those needlessly lost and their loved ones. And given the apparent background of this case, I’m mournful of the pattern we too often see, in which tragedies compound one another.

We often think about this pattern when it comes to violence between and within nations—how one incident creates the conditions for future troubles. But it happens too on the personal level, in our own cities and towns and families. The hurt can spread and grow and take on a life of its own. It’s part of being human, I suppose.

But even as one mourns, one sees hope for the future, and examples of human resiliency, decency, and community that allow people to overcome these patterns. It can take years or decades or centuries. The anguish is unfathomable for those of us lucky enough to avoid it. But our society is built on the strength of individuals and communities who are able to find ways to overcome such hurt, remembering and mourning, but also creating bonds and connections and moments of joy, even after such sadness. You hug your loved ones closer after such events. But those hugs matter more than we really can ever understand.

– Tyler

News

Fraser Valley goes blue as Liberals retain national power

In an echo of the provincial election last fall, the Fraser Valley elected a wave of Conservative candidates Monday while watching the rest of the country tilt in the opposite direction.

Conservatives were elected in all five Fraser Valley ridings, with Independent Mike de Jong and Liberal returnee John Aldag losing high-profile races in Abbotsford and Langley, respectively.

The Conservatives look set to sit in opposition, but the Liberals may face their own challenges. Without a majority of seats in Parliament, Prime Minister Mark Carney may have to muster support from other MPs in order to govern.

As Monday turned to Tuesday, it was still unclear whether the Liberals had won the 172 seats necessary for a majority in the House of Commons. The Liberals were elected or led in 168 seats as of 1am.

• You can find the latest seat count here, via Elections Canada.

• Tyler breaks down the results from Monday’s dramatic federal election.

• You can find our individual results pages, with local seat counts, here: Langley | Abbotsford & Mission | Chilliwack

Related

Need to Know

🗳 Here’s the latest on last night’s election results from CBC News [CBC]

🔊 Defeated independent candidate Mike de Jong said he might be done with politics after his loss [Vancouver Sun]

👉 Conservative Tako Van Popta said his win was ‘a relief’ [Langley Advance Times]

🌲 A Langley plywood manufacturer has received provincial funding [Langley Advance Times]

⚖ A convicted murderer serving time in a local prison is upset that officials seized his copy of Mein Kampf [CityNews]

👉 A new grocery store has opened in Langley [Grocery Business]

Why Alberta is becoming a hotbed for food industry expansion. Companies are drawn to Alberta’s transportation corridors, streamlined permitting, affordable land, and direct access to U.S. and global markets. Read the full article here.*

*Sponsored Listing

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The Agenda

City eyes farm property for sports fields

The City of Abbotsford is finally moving on its longstanding hope to build a new sports park near the University of the Fraser Valley. The city has submitted an application to remove a chunk of land just east of UFV’s Abbotsford campus from the Agricultural Land Reserve. The city would then look to create a sports field complex on the land.

The proposal is linked to the provincial government’s own plans for its new Plant and Animal Health Centre—a lab to replace the facility flooded in 2021. (You can read our recent story on that plan here.) The province wants to split an 86-acre parcel roughly in half and build a new lab on the southern lot. (The property is already largely divided between two fields.) To divide the land and build its lab, the province needs the permission of the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC).

A Monday press release from the City of Abbotsford revealed the municipality has its own plans for the other half of the land. It has submitted its own application to remove the land from the Agricultural Land Reserve and use it for a field complex. A city spokesperson told The Current that the city has an agreement to buy the land if its ALC application is approved.

In Abbotsford’s 2016 Official Community Plan, the city included the land in a “special study area” that it hoped could eventually be used for recreational purposes. Removing land from the Agricultural Land Reserve is difficult and requires the city to convince the provincial body that such a move wouldn’t be a net loss for agriculture. To overcome potential concerns, the city says it would offer to add 50 acres of land it owns on Lefevre Road to the Agricultural Land Reserve to balance out the loss of the field site. The Current will have more on the plan in a later edition.

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