Good afternoon, Langley. It is a bright, sunny start to Tuesday with the temperature already climbing toward a high near 28 C, and Wednesday is set to be even warmer at close to 29 C before some cloud and a chance of showers roll in later in the week.
The Aldergrove Fair lineup is now locked in for this weekend, with three days of music, dancing, and family entertainment landing at Kinsmen Park Field from July 17 to 19. Before that, the Township's Outdoor Experience series drops a Family Night at Aldergrove Community Centre on Wednesday evening, so there is plenty to fill the calendar close to home.
On the civic side, Langley City Council has joined a growing list of local governments signing onto the Lower Fraser Floodplains Coalition's call for serious federal and provincial investment in flood protection, a file that has only grown more urgent since the 2021 disaster.
Labour news is heating up alongside the weather. Metro Vancouver's outside workers are set to escalate to a full-scale strike Tuesday if no deal materializes, while BC nurses are pausing picket lines as veteran mediator Vince Ready steps in to break a bargaining impasse that recently spread to Nanaimo.
And in Ottawa, Prime Minister Mark Carney has named former Shell Canada president Susannah Pierce as Canada's next consul general in New York, a choice that has climate advocates raising familiar concerns about who gets to represent the country abroad.
Aldergrove Fair returns with three days of music and family fun
The Aldergrove Fair runs July 17 to 19 at Kinsmen Park Field, with a packed entertainment lineup for all ages.
Friday night kicks off with classic rock band Time Machine playing during the Aldy Show 'n Shine from 6 to 10 p.m.
Saturday brings family performers like Penny Pom Pom and JUNO-nominated children's musician Will Stroet, followed by Dueling Pianos, Korean Drummers, and evening sets from The District and The Claim Jumpers.
Sunday opens with the fair's traditional Cowboy Church at 9 a.m., followed by acoustic sets, line dancing led by veteran instructor Edie Jarvis, and Willy's Country Jam to close things out.
The 50/50 draw wraps the weekend at 4 p.m. Sunday, and the full schedule is posted on the Aldergrove Fair Facebook page.
Langley City joins regional call for Fraser flood protection funding
Langley City Council has signed onto a joint statement urging senior governments to fund long-term flood protection for the Lower Fraser.
The move follows a presentation from the Lower Fraser Floodplains Coalition, which warned that a single major flood could wipe out more than $350 billion in economic value.
About half of Metro Vancouver's dikes are in poor repair and fail to meet modern flood or seismic standards, leaving the region exposed as climate change drives more frequent flooding.
The 2021 Fraser Valley floods caused $675 million in insurance claims and cut off the Port of Vancouver, Canada's largest port, from the rest of the country.
The joint statement calls on the federal and provincial governments to treat Lower Fraser resilience as a national priority and commit to sustained, collaborative investment that works with nature rather than against it.
Langley City joins Metro Vancouver, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, Port Coquitlam, and the Township of Langley in backing the call.
Aldergrove Community Centre hosts Family Night outdoors Wednesday
The Township of Langley's Outdoor Experience series returns to Aldergrove Community Centre this Wednesday, July 15, with a Family Night from 7 to 9 p.m.
The all-ages event runs on the grounds at 20338 65 Avenue and requires advance online registration, with no drop-ins accepted.
Admission is included for kids and teens who hold a Summer Fun Pass.
The Outdoor Experience continues through the summer with Sip 'n Dip on July 16, Youth Night on July 23, and Movie Nights on August 6 and September 3.
A second Family Night is scheduled for Wednesday, August 19. Registration opens seven days before each event on the Township website.
B.C. nurses pause picket lines as mediation opens, after strike reached Nanaimo
The BC Nurses' Union will pause picket lines Tuesday night as veteran mediator Vince Ready steps in to help resolve the dispute with employers.
The pause comes just after nurses expanded job action to Vancouver Island, setting up picket lines at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital as bargaining stalled.
Union leadership has been blunt: no nurse wants to be on the picket line rather than at a patient's bedside, but chronic understaffing and burnout have left few other levers.
The dispute is fundamentally about whether the province is willing to properly fund the public healthcare workforce it depends on.
Metro Vancouver workers set to escalate to full strike Tuesday
About 750 Metro Vancouver outside workers say they will launch a full-scale indefinite strike Tuesday unless a tentative deal is reached first.
New picket lines went up Monday at the regional district's Burnaby head office and at the Annacis Island, Lulu Island, and Northwest Langley wastewater treatment plants.
Those sites join regional parks, water treatment plants, construction yards, and the Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation, where workers have already withdrawn non-essential services.
Union president Jesse Medeiros says two days of mediation at the BC Labour Relations Board have not produced meaningful progress.
The workers have been without a contract for 18 months, the dispute that set off the current job action.
Carney appoints former Shell Canada president as New York consul general
Prime Minister Mark Carney has named former Shell Canada president Susannah Pierce as Canada's next consul general in New York.
Pierce previously served as director of corporate affairs for LNG Canada, the Shell-led joint venture behind the country's largest fossil fuel export project, and sat on the boards of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and the right-wing Fraser Institute.
Environmental Defence branded her a "climate villain painting Big Oil green" in 2023, pointing to her public defence of continued oil and gas expansion and her opposition to a sector-specific emissions cap.
Carney scrapped that emissions cap last year, and former environment minister Steven Guilbeault resigned in May warning that Canada was backsliding on climate commitments.
The appointment lands as Ottawa renegotiates the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, a deal that keeps oil and gas flowing tariff-free across the border.
Pierce joins a slate of new consuls general that includes mining executive Claire Kennedy in Chicago and former Liberal minister Kamal Khera in Los Angeles.
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