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Good afternoon, Langley! We are in for a hot one today, with the mercury pushing 31°C under mostly cloudy skies, before a steep drop later this week that brings us back to a damp 16°C and rain by Friday. Make the most of the warmth while it lasts.
In today's roundup, we look at a new provincial program landing a Langley hub to tackle chronic property crime, with mental health, housing, and substance-use supports built in. The province is also shaking up how it awards contracts on the Massey Tunnel replacement, breaking the work into smaller bundles for local Canadian firms in a clear move against Trump-era trade pressure. Metro Vancouver transit workers and Coast Mountain Bus Company have reached a tentative agreement after a 99 per cent strike mandate, and the Township is reminding residents how to keep mosquito populations down as Fraser River levels rise.
On the more troubling end of the ledger, LNG Canada wants permission to flare ten times more gas in Kitimat, and a Vancouver mining company has brought on former Trump homeland security chief Kristi Noem as a strategic advisor, a figure who personally oversaw the expansion of migrant detention camps south of the border.
On the sports side, the Vancouver Canucks bring their development camp to Abbotsford at Rogers Forum at the end of the month, and two Vancouver Giants prospects, defenceman Ryan Lin and winger Mathis Preston, are drawing serious first-round buzz ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft.
Township shares tips to fight mosquitoes this summer
Mosquito season is here, and Langley Township is asking residents to help keep populations down.
The Township takes part in the Metro Vancouver Regional Nuisance Mosquito Control Program, which monitors and treats breeding sites throughout the season.
Floodwater mosquitoes tied to rising Fraser River levels are the most common source of bites in Langley.
Residents can help by removing standing water from yards, repairing leaky outdoor taps, clearing blocked drains, and keeping pond water circulating.
To avoid bites, the Township recommends being cautious at dusk and dawn, wearing long, loose, light-coloured clothing, using repellent, and checking window and door screens.
Concerns can be reported to the Morrow BioScience Mosquito Hotline at 604-432-6228, which is staffed 24 hours a day, or through the online Mosquito Reporter tool.
Province Launches Property Crime Intervention Program with a Langley Hub
A new provincial program launching in Langley aims to break the cycle of repeat property crime.
The Chronic Property Offending Intervention Initiative will run 12 hubs across BC, including one in Langley, bringing together crown prosecutors, police, probation officers, community integration specialists, and mental health workers under one coordinated team.
The program also includes housing and substance-use supports, recognizing that a small number of people facing homelessness, mental illness, and addiction generate an outsized share of calls for service.
In Langley alone, roughly five people accounted for more than 500 police calls in a single year.
Langley City Mayor Nathan Pachal says he knows some of the likely candidates by name and welcomes the approach, which is modelled on the province's 2023 Repeat Violent Offending Intervention Initiative.
Treating the underlying causes of repeat offending, rather than cycling people through courts and jail without support, is how communities actually get safer.
BC restructures Massey Tunnel bids to favour local firms
BC is changing how it hires contractors for the Massey Tunnel replacement.
Instead of awarding one massive contract to a multinational company, the province will break the work into smaller bundles that BC and Canadian firms can bid on.
Past mega-projects have gone to firms like Spain's Acciona, which built Site C, and Italy's Ghella, which is building the Broadway subway, with much of the profit flowing offshore.
Some opposition politicians have attacked the government for going back to the drawing board on procurement, accusing it of delay and indecision.
That criticism misses the point.
The economic ground has shifted under everyone's feet. Donald Trump's tariff regime is open economic warfare against Canada, and the federal Buy Canadian policy from Prime Minister Mark Carney is a direct response.
Restructuring how billions in public infrastructure dollars get spent so they stay in Canadian communities is not dithering. It is the responsible move in a hostile trade environment.
The critics fielding complaints about this approach should check their own priorities.
Are they making noise because they have a credible, better plan to protect BC workers and Canadian firms from MAGA economic pressure? Or are they simply trying to hamstring a government that is doing the difficult work of defending the local economy?
(On a completely unrelated note, does anyone remember how stoked Cloverdale - Langley City MP Tamara Jansen was about her grandchild being named after Charlie Kirk?)
Keeping public money circulating in BC communities is a clear win for workers and small contractors.
The bigger question for South Fraser residents remains whether the new eight-lane crossing will be built to accommodate future regional rail, or simply lock in another generation of highway-first planning.
Metro Vancouver transit workers reach tentative deal with employer
Metro Vancouver transit workers and their employer have reached a tentative agreement.
The deal covers more than 5,000 workers who drive, maintain, and operate the region's buses and the SeaBus, represented by Unifor Locals 111 and 2200.
The agreement will "increase wages, working conditions, and benefits," according to employer Coast Mountain Bus Company.
The two sides entered mediated negotiations on June 5, about a week after members voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.
Specifics will stay private until Unifor members get to vote on ratification in the coming weeks.
A strong strike mandate paired with a quick return to the table is what successful collective bargaining looks like, and transit riders across the region benefit when the workers who keep the system running are properly paid.
LNG Canada seeks tenfold flaring increase in Kitimat
LNG Canada wants permission to flare ten times more gas at its Kitimat plant.
The company is asking BC's energy regulator to raise its routine flaring limit from 28 tonnes per day to 300 tonnes per day for the next three years, citing a broken flare tip and leaking valves that have caused it to breach current limits since production began last fall.
The increase could raise volatile organic compound emissions tenfold, including the carcinogen benzene, in an airshed where nitrogen dioxide is already expected to exceed Canada's air quality guidelines.
Kitimat Councillor Gerry Leibel told The Tyee residents now see the facility as a "Trojan horse," with early promises of brief startup flaring giving way to years of elevated emissions.
The fossil fuel buildout sold to British Columbians as a climate-friendly transition keeps delivering pollution at scales the regulator did not plan for.
BC mining firm hires former Trump homeland security chief Kristi Noem
A Vancouver mining company has hired former U.S. Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem as a strategic advisor.
NovaRed Mining said Noem will support its work acquiring and advancing critical mineral exploration, citing her experience in policy, regulation, and national security.
Noem ran the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from January 2025 to March 2026, a period that saw the rapid expansion of mass detention camps for migrants, aggressive ICE raids in American cities, and the agency's handling of the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE officers in Minneapolis.
She was removed from the role after bipartisan criticism of a $220 million DHS ad campaign that prominently featured her, and President Donald Trump moved her to a new post as "Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas."
NovaRed has also recently appointed retired U.S. Army Military Intelligence Colonel Mark A. Calabrese to its advisory board, and holds a pending U.S. patent for an AI-powered mining exploration platform tied to copper claims near Princeton.
That a BC company would actively court a senior figure from the Trump administration, one who personally oversaw the construction of concentration camps for migrants, while that same administration wages open tariff warfare against Canadian industry, is a choice worth scrutinizing closely.
Critical minerals are strategic public resources, and who advises BC mining companies on policy and investment is very much a public-interest question.
Canucks Bringing Development Camp to Abbotsford
The Vancouver Canucks are bringing their annual development camp to Abbotsford, with the event running June 30 to July 2 at Rogers Forum.
Fans can take in much of the camp for free, making it one of the more accessible hockey events in the Fraser Valley this summer.
It is a chance to catch an early look at the organization's prospects before the 2026-27 season gets underway.
Vancouver Giants' Lin and Preston Emerge as First-Round NHL Draft Contenders
Langley's Vancouver Giants have two skaters generating serious first-round buzz ahead of the 2026 NHL Draft. Defenceman Ryan Lin is ranked in the top 15 on eight different draft rankings, while winger Mathis Preston lands in the top 20 on five.
Lin, ranked as high as 9th overall by Hockey Prospecting and 10th by The Athletic's Scott Wheeler, has been called "the smartest defenseman in this draft and arguably its most well-rounded." Multiple scouts project him as a top-pair NHL defender.
Preston, ranked 9th overall by The Hockey News, is described as "the king of upside in this class," with an NHL-ready shot that few players his age can claim. A strong showing at the IIHF U-18 Worlds for Canada boosted his stock heading into draft week.
Both players suited up for the Giants at the Langley Events Centre this past season, and their draft positions could bring significant profile to the franchise.