Township rushes vote on bylaw consolidating power for majority slates

The Township of Langley will vote Monday on a bylaw that would lower the threshold for a council majority to formally condemn individual councillors, and would end the rule that gives every councillor an equal share of weeks as Acting Mayor.

Council is scheduled to consider first, second, and third reading of the bylaw at its 1:30 pm meeting on June 15.

Public notice was given on June 8, and members of the public cannot speak to the bylaw at the meeting. Written comments must be submitted by noon Monday.

In plain terms, the changes would do two things.

First, they would lower the number of council votes needed to censure a councillor, which is a formal vote condemning their conduct, from two-thirds of council (currently six of nine votes) to a simple majority of five.

Second, they would remove the requirement that the Acting Mayor schedule be equal across councillors.

Together, the changes would give whichever group holds a majority on the nine-member council more power over individual members. Critics of changes like these say they can let a majority slate punish councillors who disagree publicly, and reward allies with more visible roles.

Once the rules change, those tools become available to any majority, not only the current one.

The bylaw is set to come into force on November 2, 2026, the start of the new council term after the October 17 election.

Lowering the votes required for censure

The current Council Procedure Bylaw 2016 No. 5199 includes two rules that the amendment would change.

Section 11.08 of the current bylaw says, "A motion to censure any member of Council requires an affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3)."

Bylaw 6234 deletes this section.

The staff report explaining the bylaw notes that under provincial law, council votes default to a simple majority unless the bylaw sets a higher number. So removing Section 11.08 changes the censure threshold from two-thirds to simple majority.

On a council of nine, that means dropping from six votes needed to five.

Censure is a formal council vote condemning a member's conduct. It does not remove the councillor from office, but it creates a public record of disapproval that can be cited by political opponents and the media.

It is generally considered the most serious sanction a council can impose on one of its own members, short of legal proceedings.

Removing equal disbursement of Acting Mayor designation

The term "Acting Mayor" can seem a bit confusing, but the concept is quite simple.

The Acting Mayor is a Councillor who fills in when the Mayor is absent. When serving, the Acting Mayor has the same powers and duties as the Mayor. The role also includes representing the Township at public events and chairing council meetings.

Section 4.02 of the current bylaw requires that at the first meeting of a new council, members approve "a schedule designating each Councillor to an equal number of weeks over their term of office for specifying the period they are Acting Mayor."

Bylaw 6234 replaces this with weaker language.

The new version only requires "a timetable designating council members as Acting Mayor" and adds that the schedule "may be amended from time to time, as deemed necessary by Council."

The requirement that every councillor get an equal share of weeks is gone.

The staff report describes both changes as "housekeeping amendments." On the Acting Mayor change, staff say they reviewed scheduling at "multiple Lower Mainland and British Columbia Local Governments."

The peer municipalities reviewed are not named in the report.

How other cities handle this

A review of similar rules in other Lower Mainland municipalities shows that censure is treated in different ways across the region.

The City of Surrey passed a separate Council Code of Conduct Bylaw in 2020. Surrey lists censure as one possible measure council can take after a formal investigation by the city's Ethics Commissioner.

Surrey's bylaw does not require a higher vote threshold for censure. Instead, it builds censure into a multi-step complaints process that includes informal resolution, mediation, and formal investigation.

Maple Ridge uses a similar model under its Code of Conduct Bylaw No. 7976-2023, which relies on an Integrity Commissioner.

Langley City has its own Code of Conduct Bylaw No. 3225, passed in 2023. Langley City is currently in court with sitting Councillor Delaney Mack over a Code of Conduct investigation that began after she criticized a council decision on Facebook.

In its June 5 court filing, the City denies that the bylaw restricts free speech and says elected officials "voluntarily assume office subject to ethical and procedural obligations." Council has received an investigator's report on Mack but has not yet acted on it.

The Langley City case shows how code of conduct rules can become a tool in disputes between councillors.

The Township of Langley does not have a stand-alone code of conduct bylaw.

Instead, conduct rules are in the Council Procedure Bylaw itself and in Council Policy 01-025. Section 11.08, the part being deleted, is the only place in the Township's rules that requires more than a simple majority to discipline a member.

Once it is gone, that protection is gone.

The Province is working on new rules

On April 2, 2026, the BC government introduced Bill 17, a law that would create a province-wide code of conduct for all local elected officials.

If passed, the rules would be set by provincial regulation, with a stated goal of having them in place for new councils after the October 17 election. The proposed framework includes standard processes for complaints, investigations, and sanctions, up to a 90-day suspension without pay.

The Township staff report acknowledges this. It says "the Provincial Government has advised that Province wide legislation and guidance may be provided for all local governments in relation to Code of Conduct" and that staff will review the local framework once the provincial one is in place.

The sequence matters. A stronger and more independent provincial framework is on the way. The Township proposal removes the existing local protection now, before that framework is in force.

The next council will operate under simple-majority censure rules until and unless the provincial framework takes over.

What it means for the next council

The blunt reality of 2026 is that slate politics dominate Langley Township.

Mayor Eric Woodward leads Progress for Langley, originally elected under the name Contract With Langley in 2022. The slate currently holds five of nine council seats. The other four councillors, Margaret Kunst, Barb Martens, Kim Richter, and Blair Whitmarsh, will all run together under a new opposition slate called Langley Strong in October.

Under the current two-thirds rule, a five-member slate cannot censure a councillor on its own. It needs at least one councillor from outside the slate to agree.

Under the new rule, five votes is enough.

Whichever group wins the October election with at least five seats will be able to censure individual councillors without needing any support from outside the slate.

This is the structural concern at the heart of the change. The two-thirds rule was a built-in check on majority power. Higher vote thresholds for serious actions like censure are common in legislative bodies because they force at least some agreement across political lines before condemning a sitting member. Removing the higher threshold takes that check away. A slate with a bare majority can now act alone.

The Acting Mayor change works the same way.

The current rule guarantees every elected councillor an equal share of Acting Mayor weeks. The new rule does not.

A Mayor and council majority can hand out the role unevenly. They can give more weeks to allies and fewer to councillors outside the slate. The "may be amended from time to time" language lets them adjust the schedule mid-term if a councillor's voting record changes.

Township censure motions are rare. The most recent significant case was in September 2018, when then-councillor Kim Richter was censured by the council of the day. Richter went on to lead a reform motion in December 2018 to change parts of the censure rules. She is still a sitting councillor and is part of the Langley Strong slate for October.

The fact that censure is rarely used is not the main point. Structural rules matter because they set what is possible, not what is likely.

Once a supermajority rule is removed and a guaranteed-equal Acting Mayor rotation becomes optional, the rules for the next council are different.

The power balance shifts toward the majority of the day, whoever wins.

How to comment before Monday

The bylaw is on the agenda for the June 15 Regular Council Meeting at 1:30 pm at the Township of Langley Civic Facility, 20338 65 Avenue, Fraser River Presentation Theatre, 4th Floor.

Comments will be distributed to council before the vote. The bylaw is available by request by calling 604-533-6100 or via email at legservicesinfo@tol.ca.

The meeting can be watched online at www.tol.ca/councilstream.

There are no speaking opportunities for this bylaw.

Written comments must be submitted to legservicesinfo@tol.ca by noon Monday, June 15, 2026.

Alternative ways to be heard

The window between the June 8 public notice and the June 15 vote is short, and there are no speaking opportunities for residents who want to address council directly on this bylaw.

Constituents who cannot meet the written comment deadline, or who want to make sure their views reach council in another form, can still contact the mayor and councillors directly by email, phone, or social media.

All nine members of council can be reached at once through the general council inbox at mayorcouncil@tol.ca.

The Township maintains official social media accounts on Facebook (@LangleyTownship), Instagram (@langleytownship), and X/Twitter (@LangleyTownship), where residents can publicly share their position and tag council.

Mayor and councillor contact information, published by the Township:

Mayor Eric Woodward Email: ewoodward@tol.ca | Phone: 604-533-6000

Councillor Tim Baillie Email: tbaillie@tol.ca | Phone: 778-708-8904

Councillor Steve Ferguson Email: sferguson@tol.ca | Phone: 604-340-9387

Councillor Michael Pratt Email: mpratt@tol.ca | Phone: 236-333-5393

Councillor Rob Rindt Email: rrindt@tol.ca | Phone: 778-238-0943

Councillor Margaret Kunst Email: mkunst@tol.ca | Phone: 604-360-1930

Councillor Barb Martens Email: bmartens@tol.ca | Phone: 778-708-8602

Councillor Kim Richter Email: krichter@tol.ca | Phone: 604-340-9517

Councillor Blair Whitmarsh Email: bwhitmarsh@tol.ca | Phone: 236-333-6832

References and Further Reading