Monday - June 30, 2025 - Chilliwack's bus bafflement

🌤 High 28C

Good morning!

There are significant changes coming. FVC is starting a new publication schedule this week—kind of. As I told members on Saturday, the plan is for The Current to arrive in your inboxes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for this month. However, this week will be a little different given Canada Day. So for this week only, there will be no Wednesday edition.

Bear with us as we adjust to the new schedule, and we will keep you in the loop on any future changes coming to this newsletter.

I hope you enjoy your Canada Day. I’ll be in Whistler, where my kids are stoked to watch Bahamas at a free show. I hope yours is as entertaining and spirit-cleansing.

– Tyler

The Fraser Valley Current is an Overstory Media publication. Click here to subscribe to our sister publication, the Georgia Straight.

News

O Canada

Elbows up, Canada.

Since US President Donald Trump began espousing his desire to turn Canada into the 51st State, Canadians have become more patriotic, surveys show. Canadian flags were raised on houses and buildings. Stores proclaimed they were proudly Canadian. Shoppers avoided American products as best they could. And many Canadians refused to cross the border altogether.

Although the patriotic fervour has died down from its height in the spring, there’s still something a little different about patriotism these days. And that seems likely to make this year’s Canada Day a little more exuberant than recent ones.

There are Canada Day celebrations being held in communities across the Fraser Valley. All include local performances and entertainment, and four will include light shows, with two drone shows on tap, along with a pair of old-fashioned fireworks displays.

• Today, Grace has collected all of tomorrow’s Canada Day celebrations in one place. 

Related

Need to Know

🔊 Elbows … down? After Donald Trump said he was ending trade talks because of Canada’s new tax on big tech companies, Ottawa has pledged to scrap the levy [CBC]

👉 Langley Township is still signing amenity deals with developers, despite a recent court ruling that its policy was invalid [Aldergrove Star]

🚔 A man has been charged with randomly stabbing a 20-year-old man at a bus station in Abbotsford last week [CTV]

🚚 New trucks will start collecting Mission’s trash in July [Mission Record]

📞 A dedicated Crime Stoppers tip line has been created to collect reports of extortion and violence against South Asian businesses [CBC]

👍 Chilliwack’s Mens’s Shed is providing a place for guys to talk about their feelings [Chilliwack Progress] / In 2023, FVC wrote about how a Langley Men’s Shed came together and changed lives [FVC]

🐻 A bear was caught on camera dragging around a dumpster at a Mission school [Mission Record]

🚑 A motorcyclist sustained life-threatening injuries in a three-vehicle collision in Abbotsford Saturday [CTV]

🚲 Huge numbers of bikers came out for the opening of the First Blood mountain bike trail in Hope [Hope Standard]

SPONSORED BY KHATSAHLANO STREET PARTY

Khatsahlano Street Party July 5: Adventure awaits at Camp Khats!

Khatsahlano Street Party returns on July 5, from 11am to 9pm, transforming 10 full blocks of West 4th Avenue into a vibrant urban wilderness. This year's "Camp Khats" theme invites festivalgoers of all ages to dive into a day packed with free live music, delicious food, inspiring art, and unique activities, all designed to bring the spirit of summer camp to the heart of the city. 

With over 60 performers curated by local legend Zulu Records, this year’s lineup is an incredible showcase of BC’s diverse talent, spanning everything from indie rock to hip hop and folk. Headliners will be set across multiple stages, including performances from psychedelic rockers Meltt, powerful vocalist Missy D, punk legend Joe Keithley of D.O.A. and high-energy folk-rock band Shred Kelly. Attendees can also discover emerging artists like Buddie, The Matinee, Cherry Pick, Francis Baptiste, and dozens more.

The Agenda

Chilliwack protests lack of funding for new buses

An unhappy Chilliwack council approved the renewal of its operating agreement with BC Transit—but only after calling the provincial government hypocrites.

The renewal of the agreement is a necessary formality that sets out the terms by which BC Transit provides bus services in the city. Chilliwack council voted to approve the contract at a mid-June meeting—but not before considering ways to try to convince the province to provide more money for buses outside of Metro Vancouver.

The municipality and BC Transit split the cost of buses, and Chilliwack has repeatedly asked for money to help increase service through the city. But the provincial government, which dictates funding levels and policy at BC Transit, has rejected those requests in recent years.

Coun. Jeff Shields said recently that he is “baffled” at a provincial freeze on funding for buses outside of Metro Vancouver.

“They don’t practice what they preach,” he said. “They talk about the climate, they talk about getting cars off the road. We come up with an excellent plan to get people more into buses… and they don’t provide the funding for it.”

Coun. Nicole Read agreed, noting that the province had created new rules promoting the building of more homes near bus exchanges for people without homes but that “we don’t have enough transit to actually support more people in those transit-oriented areas.”

Coun. Jason Lum, meanwhile, said he was worried the province was hoping that cities would eventually just pay the full cost of future bus expansions.

Shields said he wouldn’t support the agreement, given the province’s stance. But after councillors considered joining Shields, staff clarified that if the city didn’t approve the agreement, Chilliwack would effectively be ending bus service. The majority of council then approved the agreement, while Shields cast his vote in opposition as a “protest.”

Meanwhile, Chilliwack has also tweaked proposed bus fare increases. Although hikes will be coming each of the next three years for most people, council decided to hold the line on proposed increases to monthly senior fare passes.

The new BC Transit-suggested fares will still end student and senior discounts for single-day bus passes. But both groups will still have access to discounted 30-day passes. And the monthly fare for seniors will not be going up. It had been slated to rise by about $5 each of the next three years, but that concerned Read, who said “Even $5 a month is probably substantial when it comes down to how much money they have as disposable… We should be looking deeper at affordability.”

Although city staff pointed to the availability of the BC Bus Pass, which provides yearly bus service to eligible seniors older than 60 for just $45, Coun. Bud Mercer noted that not all seniors will be aware of the program or have access to it. Council asked staff to revise the fee schedule, and looks set to approve a fare scheme that maintains the current monthly pass rate for seniors later this week.

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🗓 Things to do

Corn golf: The Chilliwack Huskers hosts a golf fundraiser at Cheam Mountain Golf Course July 5. Registration online.

Musical ride: The Clarke Theatre in Mission hosts Ride The Cyclone The Musical, July 10 to 12. Tickets online.

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Catch up

That’s it!

Thanks for reading Fraser Valley Current today ♥️