Thursday - Aug. 29, 2024 - Invasive flowers removed from Cultus

🌤 High 25C

Good morning!

It can be hard to fill these little intros with interesting and relevant paragraphs sometimes. So today I just leave you with some less-than-fun facts: on this day in 1949 the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, in 1997 Netflix was founded as a video-rental company, and in 2005 New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina. Not a great day in history if I do say so myself.

– Grace

Wednesday’s big political news has prompted us to switch up the order of today’s newsletter segments so you have the right context before you get to our awkwardly timed main story.

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

Need to Know

🗳 BC United leader Kevin Falcon has thrown his support behind the BC Conservatives; but what happens next is still unclear [CityNews]

Here’s what we know so far:

• Falcon said he was suspending BC United’s campaign

• He said he was not resigning

• He said the party’s board of directors supported the move but that he had not asked party staff or candidates before making the decision

• The Conservatives said nominations for BC United candidates would be withdrawn

• Some BC United candidates may be allowed to run for the Conservatives, and the Conservatives may re-vet its own candidates

• Abbotsford South BC United candidate Markus Delves tweeted he wouldn’t be campaigning any longer (Tyler and Markus previously had an interview planned for today. We think it’s still going ahead.)

🚨 A former Chilliwack prison guard has been charged with a slew of drug trafficking and corruption offences [Chilliwack RCMP]

👉 The family of a Port Moody woman whose body was found near Hope has renewed a plea for information about her death [Tri-City News]

🚧 Work has begun to replace the 232 Street highway interchange [Langley Advance Times]

🚐 Metro Vancouver (but not Fraser Valley) HandyDART workers may go on strike after they rejected a contract offer [CityNews]

🏎 The City of Abbotsford has identified seven roads being considered for traffic-calming measures [Abbotsford News]

⚡ BC Hydro has planned $1 billion worth of projects in the Fraser Valley; they’ll be built over the next decade [BC Government News]

🏡 September 26-29, the Interior Design Show Vancouver returns to the Vancouver Convention Centre West. Enjoy new products, designers, and cutting-edge concepts. Plan your visit today!*

📷 CURRENT CAM: Congratulations to Nancy Stingl, who was the first person to correctly identify yesterday’s Current Cam as Chilliwack Secondary School.

*Sponsored Listing

NEWS

‘I could never do that. It’s just not possible.’

Kevin Falcon has thrown his support behind the BC Conservatives just weeks after telling Chilliwack podcaster and FVC collaborator Aaron Pete that his principles would stop him from ever doing such a thing.

In an interview published Monday and conducted in mid-August, two weeks before Falcon suddenly announced he would end his campaign and urge people to vote for the Conservatives, the BC United leader was asked about candidates deserting his party.

Falcon said that it was “not possible” for him to back the BC Conservatives over his own party because doing so would be to throw his principles out the window.

“A lot of the people that leave are first time MLAs or people that are panicking because of the polls … and I understand it, I just think it’s a big mistake because I think principles are really important too in politics.”

Falcon continued (you can watch the segment here):

“I’m a very principled leader and I believe that you need to guide yourself as a party by principles too. And to throw those out the window—you know, I’ve had colleagues that have gone to join the BC Conservatives that have told me things about that party, how much they despise the leader and their candidates and they’re wingnuts and all this stuff. And next thing you know, they find themselves over there. I don’t know how they do that. I personally couldn’t. It would be like me agreeing to go over and join the NDP. I could never do that. It’s just not possible. But, you know, people have to live by their own decisions and I’m fine with that. But I think a lot of it is driven by their concern about their own situation.”

Earlier in the interview, Pete asked Falcon how it felt to be accused by a commentator of having destroyed the BC Liberal Party and splitting the right-of-centre vote.

In response, Falcon suggested that the Conservatives were unlikely to appeal to British Columbians.

“It’s a party that has a lot of candidates that, frankly are very fringe candidates that hold views that are not mainstream views in British Columbia. They’ve already had to fire at least four of their candidates. There will be more, I guarantee you that.”

He continued: “I’m going to prove a lot of people wrong because they spend too much time focusing on polls… I say to people, ‘Wait ‘til the campaign.’ Nothing matters until the campaign.”

• Today, we share Aaron’s interview with BC United leader Kevin Falcon about his party’s future, its name change, and its policies on drugs, Indigenous land title, health care, and the housing crisis.

• Over the coming weeks we will be sharing Pete’s interviews with the leaders of the BC Conservative, New Democratic, and Green parties. Each week we will share an interview with a different leader. We assume all will still be running in this fall’s election.

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The Agenda

Invasive purple flowers removed from Cultus Lake

Visitors to Cultus Lake might be missing some roadside stands of purple flowers—but it is for a good reason.

Earlier this summer, staff from four different organizations helped to remove purple loosestrife plants growing in clumps on the west side of Cultus Lake. The flowers were introduced to North America in the 1800s for beekeeping and in gardens, but quickly spread throughout the United States and Canada. It is now found in every Canadian province and every American state except Florida. The plants can produce up to two million seeds in a growing season, and are most commonly found by waterways.

A large collection of Purple Loosestrife has sprung up near the BC Parks campsites on the west side of Cultus Lake; the 90-foot long stand was removed by BC Parks staff over the course of a day and a half. A second, smaller patch was found by one of the parking lots in Cultus Lake Park. That group of flowers was removed by Cultus Lake park staff, a DFO staff member, and a crew from Morrow Bioscience.

Dave Clyne, the chair of the Cultus Lake Stewardship Society, commended the staff members for their actions in “difficult conditions.”

“Next year we will know where to look for this plant and hopefully remove any that appear earlier and more thoroughly,” he said in an email.

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🗓 Things to do this week/end

🎉 Stampede: Valley West Stampede comes to Langley over the September long weekend, from Saturday, Aug. 31 to Monday, Sept. 2. Gates open at 11am; rodeo starts at 2pm. Tickets online. 

💃 Swing dance: Langley's Rock Step Swing Dance Society hosts a free outdoor swing dance and lesson on Friday, Aug. 30 at Douglas Park. The night starts off with a free dance lesson and continues into a social dance. No partner needed. Details online.

📽 Free movie: The Abbotsford Police Department is hosting a free movie in Mill Lake Park on Friday, Aug. 30 at 5pm. Details online.

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Catch up

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