The Fraser Valley's top political stories of 2023

At the end of 2023, we’re recapping the most significant news stories of the past year, and trying to sum up why they’re important, and what they mean for the future.

Today, we’re focusing on the top political stories of 2023. Tomorrow, we’ll look at our environment, and how humans and our natural world co-exist. And on Friday, we’ll take a look at four big stories with ramifications for the coming year.

First: the top political stories of 2023.

1. Harrison Hot Springs

Good job folks.

It takes quite a certain sort of leadership to make the council in a community of a couple thousand people major regional news. So what does it say that Harrison Hot Springs’ council turmoil regularly makes news across the entire province? And what does it say when we’re mentioning it here, at the top of our piece on the Fraser Valley’s biggest political stories of the year?

The squabbling, accusations, and yelling in Harrison Hot Springs started soon after the 2022 election and continued with little respite all through 2023. It has compromised the village’s ability to run itself. And it shows no sign of letting up. In an interview for a piece to come, Harrison mayor Ed Wood told The Current he has no regrets about his behaviour over the last year and called his opponents “nasty people.” (We’ve asked the same of the councillors on the other side of the fence.)

Catch up

Our story from March:

The latest development, from November, from the Agassiz-Harrison Observer:

2. Bruce Banman switches sides

In September, Abbotsford South MLA Bruce Banman announced he was leaving BC United (the former BC Liberal Party) to switch to the BC Conservatives. Banman’s move marks just the latest calamity to strike BC United/Liberals in a riding that should otherwise be one of the party’s safest seats.

Banman, one of Abbotsford’s many former one-term mayors, has always been more of a populist than an idealist or ideologue. And say what you want about the reasons for his departure (and politically connected people in the city are happy to speculate), it reflected provincewide polls showing right-of-centre voters drifting away from the BC Liberals-turned-BC United and toward the BC Conservatives. That has prompted speculation about whether the two parties will seek to join forces. If they don’t, the BC NDP seem destined to win a landslide.

But the Conservatives and their ex-BC Liberal leader John Rustad may feel that it’s worth losing to the BC NDP if they can claim the mantle of BC’s dominant right-of-centre party from Kevin Falcon’s ailing group. Power comes in different forms.

Catch up

Our story from September:

A pollster on the current state of the electorate:

Kevin Falcon on those same polls:

2. Home rule pushback

In Langley and now Chilliwack, local politicians have pushed back against rapid provincial moves aimed at making it easier to build denser forms of housing—particularly near transit hubs.

Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward has been one of the most outspoken critics, saying the rules will force the Township to rip up its plans in three different neighbourhoods.

The backlash is hardly surprising and often based more in politics than reason. Some local politicians seem mostly aggrieved at the province stepping on local council’s turf, even though that’s the whole point: the provincial rules have been introduced to remove obstacles to building new housing that are frequently created and promoted by local municipalities. The rules also remove the need to hold public hearings for most new residential building proposals. Such moves are necessary, housing advocates say, because local oversight often serves entrenched short-term interests, rather than address the long-term housing problems facing BC.

Woodward’s opposition, though, is notable because of the scale of building that has been taking place in Langley Township over the last five years. The township has clearly done more than its fair share to add to BC’s housing stock.

While some communities’ complaints are reactionary, you can understand why the Township may feel like it shouldn’t have to take a hit or do more work because other laggard communities couldn’t get their act together. Langley also has very real reason to question whether the province will be able to build enough schools and finance other key infrastructure needed to accommodate more residents.

Catch up

Our story on the potential impact of transit-density areas on local downtowns

On the Township’s new plans to repeal two neighbourhood plans

The response of Chilliwack’s politicians:

Honourable mentions

Censures: School boards and councils continue to use motions of censure to condemn their colleagues, while frequently hiding behind privacy laws to duck explaining why they’ve taken the action they have. The last year has seen Mission Coun. Ken Herar and Chilliwack school board trustee Heather Maahs censured. 

SOGI protests: The last year saw an increasing number of protests aimed at school boards. The protests are partially notable because they have shown how local activism can be influenced by global political discourse as much as they are local issues. Although the material the protests were about have been used in schools for years, the protests coincided with similar demonstrations elsewhere in North America.

Your suggestions: The quietness of Abbotsford council; Mission’s 7th Avenue Greenway; development on Chilliwack-area First Nation reserves; Victor Smith’s reign as Hope mayor; rivalry between the mayors of the two Langleys.