David Davis
Running for council in Langley Township
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Dairy farmer, 60
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• Have you held office in past? If so, please specify: Yes, I have held office for two terms
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Candidate provided bio: A fourth generation dairy farmer, David Davis was born and raised in the Township. David farms the same land his great-grandfather farmed over 125 years ago. David, along with his wife and five children, milk 250 dairy cows.
David wants to ensure Langley remains a great place to live, work and raise families. David believes it is important to have a voice in community issues and the importance of preserving farmland.
If re-elected, David will continue to work towards well managed and sensible growth of our community, careful management of our tax dollars, preserving farmland and solving public safety issues.
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Website: david_davis.ca
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Facebook: @toldaviddavis
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Phone: 604-888-1402 or 604-340-3985
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• Who is your favourite superhero, and why? My favourite superhero was my dad. Dad demonstrated to me everyday, the importance family, of working hard, intergrity, and always being honesty no matter what.
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There are 23 candidates running for eight Langley Township council seats. The following are questions asked of each candidate hopeful. They were directed to provide a minimum of a Yes, No, or Don’t Know answer, and given an option to expand on one answer in print (to a maximum of 100 words per question). They could expand on all questions online, if they wished to do so. The following are their replies.
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Questions and Answers:
1. What neighbourhood of Langley do you live in?
Answer: Milner
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2. How many years have you lived in Langley?
Answer: I have lived in the Township of Langley for 60 years.
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3. How many Langley Township council meetings have you attended in the past year?
Answer: I have attended all council meeting except Oct. 2, 2017.
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4: Should the municipality be directly funding social housing to reduce homelessness?
Answer: Yes, But the Township should not directly fund social housing. We should work along with the province on social housing issues. Social housing is not just a municipality issue. The Township can contribute with land, permitting and servicing etc. We can put bylaws in place stating that all new developments have 15 per cent affordable housing.
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5. Do you support elevated rail over light rapid transit from Surrey to Langley?
Answer: Don’t know. There are pros and cons to both. There is an issue of cost, and I would need to see a study.
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6. Should the municipality fund an arts centre?
Answer: Don’t know. However, I would support partnering through giving land and services.
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7. Would you vote to raise taxes to hire more police?
Answer: Yes. As we experience more growth and more people there is a need for more police services.
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8. Does Langley need a new or second hospital to serve the growing population?
Answer: Yes. I think that some day we will need a new hospital to serve our growing community. We need to continue lobbying Fraser Health.
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9. Does Willoughby need its own dedicated library?
Answer: Yes, it is a growing community. Murrayville, Aldergrove, Fort Langley, Walnut Grove and Brookswood all have libraries.
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10. Is there enough effort being made to preserve farmland?
Answer: No. When land is so expensive people want to use ALR land for building sites. We need to stop subdividing parcels, we need a strong agricultural council, a strong Agricultural Land Commission, and the province needs to be involved and monitor who is buying up farmland for future speculation.
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11. Should Langley allow construction of residential towers?
Answer: Yes. Langley should allow towers along the 200th corridor… if we don’t want to build out onto farmland then we have to build up. However, the infrastructure has to come first. I also want to see preservation of the forested areas, and providing parks and green space (not pocket parks) for residents to enjoy.
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12. Should Langley have its own municipal police force, replacing the RCMP?
Answer: Don’t know. I think we would need to see a study.
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13. Do you think residential property taxes are too high?
Answer: No. If we want to enjoy community centers, driving on our roads, having water and sewer and maintained parks then we have to pay for them.
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14. Do you support the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline?
Answer: No. I don’t support this expansion. It is being built directly for export.
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15. Should the municipality offer tax breaks, incentives, or rebates to companies looking to set up shop here?
Answer: Yes. I support tax breaks/rebates for companies looking to set up business in the Township because it stimulates economical growth.
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16. Is Langley being pushed to grow too fast?
Answer: Yes. Langley is getting pushed to grow too fast. Our infrastructure needs to catch up.
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17. Do you support redevelopment of Fort Langley’s downtown?
Answer: Yes. I support the redevelopment of Fort Langley’s downtown if we look at and update the 30-year-old OCP.
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18. Should development of Brookswood be phased in?
Answer: Yes. Brookswood’s development needs to be phased in..
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19. Should the Township set a deadline to finish widening 208th Street in Willoughby?
Answer: Don’t know. Setting a deadline to finish widening 208th poses a real finical hardship due to the cost of real estate.
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20. Should there be a limit to the number of consecutive terms a member of council can serve?
Answer: No. I believe that the public decides through elections. It is there right.