Langley voters will head to the polls to fill the council seat Councillor Misty Van Popta left vacant after being elected to the provincial legislature. The vacancy exists because the province passed legislation prohibiting one person from holding two elected positions at the same time.

Readers of The Langley Monitor will recall how this unfolded. We reported when a bill was introduced in Victoria to prohibit Members of the Legislative Assembly from also serving on municipal councils. We followed as a court petition from residents advanced, while Van Popta continued to hold both roles until the new legislation took effect. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation also supported ending the practice. The message from Victoria was clear: the change was coming.

When the legislation was enacted, MLAs who were also serving on councils were deemed to have vacated their municipal seats. Van Popta had described council as a part-time role, but under the new law her seat was formally declared vacant. The calendar moved on to a byelection.

The political context matters. Council passed a 5–4 motion to allow attendance at Council meetings via Zoom. Bylaw No. 6071 amended the Council Procedure Bylaw to expand the permitted use of electronic attendance for Regular Council Meetings, just two weeks after Van Popta was elected as MLA for Langley–Walnut Grove on October 19. At the time, she indicated she intended to hold both positions, unlike other newly elected MLAs who stepped away from municipal office.

Van Popta was elected to council on Mayor Eric Woodward’s Contract With Langley slate. The seat now requiring replacement came from within the mayor’s camp. The mayor expressed concern about having to hold a by-election, questioned the timing, and suggested the province should pay for it. The province responded that municipalities run their own elections and are responsible for the costs. Township staff estimated the cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And so, a byelection will now be held to address the situation created when a councillor sought to hold two elected positions, alongside debate about who should bear the cost of filling the vacancy. Some critics referred to the practice as “double-dipping,” a term the province’s new legislation has effectively rendered obsolete in municipal politics.