u/Not_Bot23

I made a post this morning and some of the community felt it was too close to an ad hominem attack to be appropriate. Thank you for holding me accountable.

I’m going to chalk it up to a case of the election crazies and a lack of better judgement thereof.

Mods removed it before I could, but I’ve had the morning to think about it, and while it wasn’t my intention I definitely understand how it could be perceived to be intentionally too on the nose.

My choice does not reflect this sub or the broader Langford community.

Truth be told, I’m scared.

I’m scared of the regressive politics at play. I’m scared of people who are backed by vested interests getting control of the council table again. I’m scared of people not doing their research and looking deeper, or pausing to consider that a shiny new slate does not a new man make.

I’m scared of people who stand at the podium and call our elected officials “trash”.

This lack of decorum and common respect has become too common over the last term, to be unintentional.

It was the late Lillian Szpak who made a comment once regarding this behaviour, that the council chambers should be sacred. The podium is not a platform for political bad actors to stage theatrics.

It is the vehicle of our municipal democracy.

I’m angry that a group of people have made a mockery of that sacred space, the democratic choices of the electorate, and all at the expense of our feeling of safety in the community.

There is irony here, as I contributed to that today with my meme, so I’ll apologize to the community for dragging down instead of lifting up. Anger distorts our judgement, and I’ll make sure I come correct before I hit post, going forward.

My sentiment remains, however.

Grassroots v. Astroturf

grassroots
/ˈɡrasˌro͞ots/
Grassroots refers to the most basic, fundamental level of an organization, society, or movement, consisting of ordinary people rather than the leaders or elite.

astroturfing
/ˈastrōˌtərfiNG/
Astroturfing is the deceptive practice of making an organized, well-funded corporate, political, or lobbyist campaign look like a genuine, spontaneous "grassroots" movement.

I mean it when I say NO to Trump style politics in Langford.

Too bad.

We have just over a month to go, and then you can recommence your dissociation, willful blindness/ignorance, and pretend it doesn’t matter.

But right now, we need you!

Langford has had consistently low voter turnout. We can speculate as to why, but last election was the highest voter turnout Langford has ever had.

Why?

Because a deeply entrenched mayor and council finally had the opposition of a organized grassroots coalition of residents backing a slate of candidates people wanted to vote for.

Municipal elections have the biggest impacts on our day to day lives, and your vote matters.

It’s important to learn about the candidates. Scrutinize their claims. Verify information before accepting it. And if you struggle with these things, there are lots of ways to verify information before consuming it in 2026.

Colby Harder (incumbent)

Mary Wagner (incumbent)

Kimberley Guiry (incumbent)

Keith Yacucha (incumbent)

Scott Goodmanson (incumbent)

Stew Young

Jennifer Dunnett

Lisa Foxall

Brandy Gordon

Bryson Hill

Wendy Hobbs

Shawn Blair

After listening to Stew’s launch speech, and his CBC radio interview, I would really like to see a comprehensive fact check with all the receipts.

Off the top of my head, there were many easily refuted claims - example : this council cuts everybody off, and he wants to change that.

He and his council passed Procedure Bylaw No. 1971 in 2021, as a response to the growing number of residents showing up to meetings with complaints.

I can say for sure, that this council has never told residents “if they don’t like it leave” or “don’t move to Langford and then bitch”.

I know we can easily crowd source a fact check. Many hands make light work. Tomorrow is fact check Friday.

You may be wondering what is going on here. Looking around social media you might feel like you need a code to decipher a foreign (Langford) language.

LV. LN. OL.

So let me explain it from my point of view and Reddit can do the rest by filling in any blanks.

First there was Stew. He was the mayor from 1993 to 2022. Yes, you read that right. One mayor and more or less the same council, for 30 years.

Langford was the sticks, the boondocks, the dog patch. Stew grew Langford, faster and faster. It was fine for a while but infrastructure didn’t keep pace, hillsides were ravaged, trees razed and mountains flattened.

People were angry.

A Facebook group called Langford Voters for Change was started. It gathered momentum organically, and people began self-organizing. It was a forum where Langforders could come together to discuss the various issues communities were facing. Construction fatigue - dust, noise, clearcuts. Terrible lack of transportation planning leading to traffic congestion in residential neighbourhoods. Lack of transparency in governance (Langford council meetings only went online when forced to by Covid). Rude mayor and councillors who yelled at citizens expressing their concerns. That’s LVC.

Out of the connections made in that facebook group, an electoral organization was founded, called Langford Now. A group of regular citizens got together to fight *the man*. That’s LN.

The man being, Stew Young, and the various REITS and development interests busy with booming Langford without a single care for resident concerns and complaints.

In response Stew Young also formed an EO and slate, called Community First Langford. They launched a social media campaign with comments turned off, and ran one of the worst election campaign’s you’ve ever seen. That’s CFL.

LN (grassroots residents) spent about $50k on the election.

CFL (big corporate interests) spent almost $150k on the election.

Despite the massive resources supporting CFL, Langford Now - who endorsed 5 council candidates - easily swept the election, and a new mayor (Goodmanson) was also elected. It was a full sweep, but for Lillian Szpak - long serving councillor who recently passed away.

Langford Voters dropped the “for change” because the voters achieved that goal. That’s LV.

Next, the re-elect Stew Young Facebook group supporting the CFL slate changed its name to Our Langford (no really, as in, this is our turf).

They embarked on a years long smear campaign, performing all kinds of antics and disruptions in the council chambers. Then they began astroturfing Facebook by starting more groups they called “community associations” and that’s how we got the Langford Community Association, it’s just Our Langford wearing a mustache. That’s OL and LCA.

Today, what you are witnessing is those two factions - LV and OL, the regular grassroots people of Langford and the vested interests of Langford - in a struggle for continuing the change that was started, over regressing Langford back to the way that it was before 2022.

Grassroots vs Astroturf.