Federal Election Profile: The Langley area
Posted October 14, 2015 3:31 pm.
Last Updated January 13, 2016 1:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) – It’s a region that has long been a Conservative stronghold, encompassing Langley, Cloverdale and Aldergrove.
The first riding covers the boundaries of the Township of Langley and Aldergrove, while the second is a newly created federal riding including Cloverdale, Langley City and a sliver of Langley Township.
People who live in both ridings claim transit, crime and keeping taxes low are priorities for the region in this federal election.
Conservative candidate Mark Warawa is the current MP for Langley-Aldergrove, holding his seat for over a decade. He defeated the NDP candidate in 2011 by just under 50 per cent.
“I was elected 2004, so eleven years I have been honoured to be the Member of Parliament for Langley. Hopefully I get re-elected on Oct.19th so I can continue to work hard for Langley-Aldergrove.”
“Langley-Aldergove is the hub of the Fraser Valley, we have the Aldergrove border crossing, we have Gloucester Industrial Estates, we have the Abbotsford Airport. We are really the hub for transportation and industry in the Fraser Valley. We are an agricultural community [with] Fraser River on the north. We have great relationships with First Nations and probably the number one issue we have [is that we are] one of the fastest growing communities in Canada,” he adds.
The riding lost the urban City of Langley with the redistribution, making this district even more friendly to the Conservatives.
UBC Political Science Professor Max Cameron says that makes it a relatively safe seat for the Tories. “It is certainly a conservative stronghold and it’s been held by Mark Warawa for some time. He is a strong constituency politician, that is someone who does work hard for his constituents.”
The new Cloverdale-Langley City riding is suburban, with the lowest number of seniors in BC and a median income of just under $35,000 — the fourth highest in the province.
Conservative Dean Drysdale, Liberal John Aldag, the Green Party’s Scott Anderson and NDP candidate Rebecca Smith are each hoping to win the riding’s first-ever seat as MP.
