Longtime Langley Township Councillor Kim Richter has announced she will be the Liberal candidate for the Langley-Aldergrove riding in the next federal election.
Richter said that as a 35-year resident and a 22-year councillor for the Township, she understands local priorities.
“It is so very important now to have a seat at the federal decision-making table,” Richter said in the announcement of her candidacy. “Our rapidly growing community needs help like it never has before.”
Richter said her key reasons for running are to deliver a climate change plan that includes federal funding for rapid transit in Langley and the Fraser Valley, to ensure the $10 a day child care plan is available to all local families, and to return Canada to financial sustainability after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
Richter was highly critical of the Liberals’ main opponents, the Conservative Party. Langley-Aldergrove is currently represented by Tory MP Tako van Popta, and it was held before him for well over a decade by the late Conservative and Reform MP Mark Warawa. Most of the Langley and Abbotsford area has been in either Reform or Progressive Conservative hands for decades.
“The Conservative Party takes Langley-Aldergrove for granted,” Richter said. “This needs to change. We deserve more for our votes.”
Richter has run as a Liberal candidate before, in 2004, coming second to Mark Warawa in the Langley riding.
“There are some similarities,” Richter said of her current candidacy to the one 15 years ago, “but the whole process has changed quite substantially since 2004.”
She said she is looking forward to debating van Popta and the NDP and Green candidates for the area.
No federal election has been scheduled, and the last election was in 2019.
However, speculation has been high that an election will be called as soon as this fall. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leads a minority government and has relied on votes from the NDP, Bloc Quebecois, and Green Party to pass legislation. Trudeau, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh have been in campaign mode all summer, touring the country and laying out promises on policy and programs.
Trudeau recently pledged federal funding to complete a SkyTrain extension for Langley, the last piece of funding needed after the provincial government and TransLink had already promised to fund their parts of the line.
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