Metro Vancouver Looking To Tighten Air Quality Regs. Smog Increasing.

The Metro Vancouver Regional District has delegated authority from the provincial government to regulate air quality in our region. The Regional District is looking to tighten up ambient air quality objectives. The target numbers help guide Metro Vancouver's regulation, enforcement, and alerting efforts.

The Region District is looking into tightening up the objectives for three key air pollutants: ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide.

Ground-level ozone, sometimes known as smog, is produced by vehicle and industrial emissions. Nitrogen dioxide is produced by vehicle, industrial, and building (heating) emissions. Sulphur Dioxide is produced by petroleum refining, marine vessels, cement production, and aircraft. Ground-level ozone is harmful to human health and contributes to climate change. All three are linked to respiratory problems and contribute to early death.

The Regional District has an extensive air quality monitoring network in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. You can check out Metro Vancouver's AirMap to see.

The proposed new target levels are:
Ground-level ozone (8-hour averaging period): Reducing from 62ppb to 60ppb
Nitrogen dioxide (1-hour average period): Reducing from 60ppb to 42ppb
Nitrogen dioxide (annual average): Reducing from 17ppb to 12ppb
Sulphur dioxide (annual average): Reducing from 5ppb to 4ppb

There is no safe level of ground-level ozone; unfortunately, this pollutant is increasing in our region. The following table shows ground-level ozone in Metro Vancouver over the last three years.

2021-2023, Ground-level ozone 8-hour average levels in Metro Vancouver compared to regional ambient air quality objectives. Source: Metro Vancouver

Maple Ridge has some of the worst ground-level ozone in the region, and Langley is up there. Work needs to be done to drive down ground-level ozone by reducing the use of internal combustion engines, which the provincial and federal governments control.

Metro Vancouver Population to Increase to 3.3 Million in 2030. Langley City Middle of the Road.

The Metro Vancouver Regional District recently updated its population growth projections within our region. When it comes to the projected total population growth, Vancouver and Surrey will continue to be the places with the highest total population growth.

Map of Projected Change in Dwelling Units (Medium-Growth Scenario), from 2021 to 2051, by Member Jurisdiction. Source: Metro Vancouver

When it comes to the change in population, the Township of Langley, Maple Ridge, New Westminster, Coquitlam, UBC, and Tsawwassen First Nation are where Metro Vancouver is predicting will see the most significant increase as a percentage of the current population over the next 25 years.

Map of Projected Increase (%) in Dwelling Units (Medium-Growth Scenario), from 2021 to 2051, by Member Jurisdiction. Source: Metro Vancouver

In recent years, Langley City has been a high-growth community, according to census data. Still, the Metro Vancouver model predicts that Langley City will see medium growth in the coming decades. Langley City's population is now closely tracking with the City of Port Moody.

These population growth projections help the region and municipalities plan for infrastructure needs such as water, sewer, and transportation. It can also help inform land-use decisions.

You can view the updated projections on the Metro Vancouver website.

Getting Politicians Working for You Again

About a year ago, I got a ride to a SkyTrain station from a mayor of one of the larger municipalities in our region. He told me people need a roof over their heads and a good job. He said many politicians have forgotten that this is the most basic thing we must enable. I agreed, and this conversation has stuck with me.

While I’ve been actively involved in politics for some time now, that conversation got me thinking about what I believe the role of government should be. The results of various provincial and other elections over the last few months really got me thinking about this.

There are really five things that we, as politicians and government, need to enable for people.

• We need to ensure that people’s basic needs are met.
• We need to ensure that people have access to opportunity.
• We need to ensure that people feel safe.
• We need to ensure that when people need help, we are there.
• We need to ensure that people feel they are valued in our society.

While the federal and provincial governments and politicians have the most control over these five outcomes, local governments also have a role.

I created a Langley City Solutions Tracker 2.1, which outlines everything I promised over the years. Most of what I’ve promised fits within the five key outcomes, but I want to expand on this slightly.

We provide water and sewer services as local governments. It doesn’t get more basic than this.

Local governments play a prominent role in our transportation network. Roads and transit ensure that people have access to opportunities.

How we police our communities and design and operate our public spaces, libraries, and recreation centres contributes to people’s feeling of safety.

When people need help, sometimes it isn’t available or hard to know where to start. Some local governments, such as Langley City, have now taken on the role of advocate to get required services for a community and are working to reduce the barriers to accessing these services.

It is crucial to feel that society and, by extension, your government value you. As local government, we can meaningfully include people in our decisions as we serve a smaller area. I’m very excited about direct democracy systems, such as Citizens’ Assemblies and Citizens’ Budgets.

Many times, politicians forget who they should be serving. These five ideals have become a bit of a lighthouse for me.

Extreme Weather Response Shelter Program Not Effective, Needs An Overhaul

In BC, we have a system of emergency shelters that provide space for people with the most urgent need of a basic place to sleep. Unfortunately, there are few shelters, and most are at capacity on any given night, as seen in the Shelter Map system by StreetMessenger. The following list shows the number of permanent emergency shelters by municipalities in the South of Fraser.

Gateway of Hope in Langley City. Source: Gateway of Hope

Delta: 0
Langley City: 1
Langley Township: 0
Surrey: 9
White Rock: 0

To provide additional space in the winter months, from October 15th to April 15th, BC Housing provides limited funding for additional extreme weather response spaces when it is snowing, it rains heavily, or there are freezing temperatures.

In Delta, there are ten additional spaces for women and nine for anybody.

In Langley City, there have traditionally been 15 additional spaces for anybody.

In Surrey, there are currently 45 additional spaces for anyone.

While I don't want to get too caught up on the numbers, the main point is that given the rapid growth in the number of people who experience homelessness, the current year-round and Extreme Weather Response emergency shelter system is at capacity.

I wanted to focus on the BC Housing Extreme Weather Response program.

Over the years I've been on Langley City Council, the School District and faith-based organizations have made spaces available to host extreme weather response shelters in our community. I've observed that these spaces only last one Extreme Weather Response season and are not made available in future seasons (except the Gateway of Hope.) Some challenges with the Extreme Weather Response program included finding qualified staffing, dealing with people who have complex needs, and conflicts with other uses. I've seen that it becomes more challenging every year to find organizations willing to host an Extreme Weather Response in Langley City.

I don't want to be all doom and gloom. There is a path forward.

We all know that the province needs to ramp up housing and mental health treatment, but even with ramped-up services, we will always need emergency shelters.

At the core, we need to expand the permanent shelter network and ensure that those facilities are equipped to handle extreme summer and winter weather events. We must also ensure the shelter network has the support staff to help people with complex needs.

Smaller-scale, geographically distributed facilities ensure better outcomes for both the neighbourhoods in which they are based and the folks accessing emergency shelter services.

Frankly, emergency shelter services are needed in the Township of Langley and Delta.

Langley City Council is looking at all the gaps in our social infrastructure, including emergency shelter services. While it is a provincial responsibility to fund the emergency shelter network, we are doing our part by advocating for expanding the emergency shelter network, including advocating for the province to implement the HEART and HEARTH programs in both Langley City and Township.

The status quo isn't working, and we need provincial action to ensure the most vulnerable people in our communities can access emergency shelter services.

November 4 Council Notes: Langely City Committee Appointments, Volunteer for a Committee, Other Appointments and Housekeeping

Every year, Langley City Council appoints members of Council to both our City run committees, external committees, and organizations that we are a part of, such as the Metro Vancouver Regional District and Fraser Valley Regional Library.

Last night, Council reappointed Councillor Rosemary Wallace as our Fraser Valley Regional Library representative and appointed Councillor Delaney Mack as our alternative if Councillor Wallace is unable to attend a meeting.

Council also reappointed Councillor Paul Albrecht to the Metro Vancouver Regional District Board and reappointed Councillor Wallace as our alternative.

Council also made a series of other appointments for 2025, which you can read more about in the November 4th Council agenda. There were a few changes to note. Langley City's Community Day and Magic of Christmas Festival and the Langley Christmas Bureau were heavily driven by the Council committee back in the day. Committees are not used today as they have been handled by internal City staff working groups and volunteers for the last several years. So, while Council will always be involved, there is no need to make committee appointments.

While Langley City is still a strong supporter of the Langley Human Dignity Coalition, scheduling conflicts have prevented council members from attending over the last year. As such, we did not appoint a representative this year.

It is also the time of the year for people in our community to put their names forward to volunteer for committees. If you'd like to learn more about Langley City committees, please visit the City's committee webpage. You can apply on that page for 2025 committee appointments.

Council also repealed old policies for committees that we no longer have, such as the Social Planning Committee, Event & Parade Committees, and Youth Advisory Committee (youth reps are part of all our City committees now.) Council repealed old policies on alerting the press of a Council meeting agenda (the policy stating we should use a fax machine) and a "Notice to Public" policy, which more robust policies have superseded.

Low Number of Air Quality Advisories this Summer. Wood-Burning Fireplace Regulation.

Since about 2015, there has been a marked increase in the number of summer air quality advisories in the Fraser Valley airshed (from the ocean to Hope.) The Metro Vancouver Regional District issues these advisories when smog or fine particulate matter reaches levels that harm human health.

These days, most air quality advisories result from fine particulate matter found in wildfire smoke. While this year was another extreme wildfire season, 75% of the wildfires were in northern BC, and the resulting smoke did not make its way down to our airshed.

Metro Vancouver issued a three-day smog advisory starting on July 8th this summer, which was caused by local pollution.

The following chart shows the number of days an air quality advisory was in effect, from 2005 until now.

Number of days of air quality advisories in the Lower Fraser Valley. Source: Metro Vancouver

You can sign up for air quality advisories on the Metro Vancouver website. You can also view Metro Vancouver's real-time air quality map. Most weather apps and sites also include Metro Vancouver's air quality data.

On the topic of air quality, Metro Vancouver also regulates:

• Fireplace
• Fireplace insert (that burns wood)
• Wood stove
• Pellet stove
• Masonry heater
• Other wood burning device

You must register your wood-burning appliance, ensure it meets our region's emission standards, and follow the region's wood burning regulations. The Metro Vancouver's real-time air quality map also shows if you can use your wood-burning fireplace. For example, you cannot use a wood-burning fireplace in Langley today.