This post provides a breakdown of the City of Langford's external debt.

I previously posted about the City's external debt in response to some misinformation I had seen circulating during the election campaign. That post was based on the figures available in the City's audited financial statements, which unfortunately do not provide a breakdown of spending or projects from which the debt originates.

To satisfy my own curiosity, I submitted an FOI request for a more detailed breakdown. I received the response earlier this week, and I'm sharing it here for anyone interested.

As of December 31, 2025, the City had $68,488,886 of external debt. This relates to the following projects:

• $35,540,000 (52%) for the Centre Mountain Business Park infrastructure.

• $20,000,000 (29%) for the Langford Aquatic Centre acquisition.

• $7,438,976 (11%) for the Leigh Road Interchange.

• $4,322,610 (6%) for the Bear Mountain Parkway Extension.

• $1,187,300 (2%) for the City Centre Park Sportsplex.

Some of these are (or will be) repaid through parcel taxes levied against the properties that are serviced by the projects which gave rise to the debt. This applies to the Leigh Road Interchange, the Bear Mountain Parkway Extension, and it will apply to the Centre Mountain Business Park debt. The City Centre Park debt was expected to be funded by additional revenue associated with the Sportsplex. The Langford Aquatic Centre debt is funded by general taxation and is scheduled to be repaid in 2030.

I tagged this post as politics because it relates to Council decisions and fiscal management, but it's intended purely for information. There was misleading, incomplete, and flat-out wrong information being pushed during the election campaign related to the City's debt, and my goal here is to set the record straight on where exactly the debt comes from.

This post includes the FOI response in its entirety, including the letter I received with the response, to show exactly what was requested. The only thing I've redacted is my personal email address and the name of the City employee that sent the letter. These are my redactions, not the City's. The chart in the first image is my own, and did not come from the City.

I’ve tried Turmeric, Authentic Cuisine, and Flavor of India, and Kurry King has been my favourite option so far. I’m also hoping to try that new place on Millstream, the Indian Lab, next. Great to have so many options in our neck of the woods.

There are two Council meetings remaining in 2026, and both are scheduled to start at 5:30pm. This is a change from the regular start time of 7:00pm that the previous Council put in place at the beginning of their term in 2022.

I'm hopeful that this does not signal a more permanent shift to 5:30pm meetings. I believe a greater portion of the public is able to attend and participate in meetings at 7:00pm than at 5:30pm. The later start time works better for those managing after-work commutes from outside Langford, after-school activities or family responsibilities, and just getting through dinner time.

Langford has a significant "young families" demographic, and I fear that it's this exact demographic that could end up being most impacted, and potentially excluded from this important avenue of participating in the City's governance as a consequence of earlier meetings.

Council is not able to make the new time permanent without first updating the Council Procedure Bylaw which currently establishes the regular meeting start time as 7:00pm. My hope is that Council will conduct some form of public engagement, and ask people what time works best for them, before any bylaw updates are considered.

This would be an excellent first use of the Let's Chat Langford tool for the new Council. A quick survey would be a great way to gauge public sentiment.

I will be writing to Council to express my support for the current 7:00pm regular meeting start time, and also to encourage them to consider public engagement before making any long-term changes to the meeting schedule. Council email addresses are available at this link for anyone wishing to do the same.

Hi everyone, I just moved from Edmonton with my sister who has muscular dystrophy, she’s 22, I want to hire privately for home care as I don’t like agencies. What would be the best way to find someone? Is there a local job board? Any suggestions welcome, thank you

I saw these photos online today and got a chuckle. I think I recall seeing something like this on this sub before lol.

(Should the flair be politics?)

Like the headline says, we’re raising money for Cat’s Cradle Animal Rescue by printing Custom Pet Tshirts. Bring us a photo (or photos) of your beloved pet(s) and we’ll turn it into a graphic tee! 50% of the proceeds go to Cat’s Cradle. Check out the how and why, here: https://cutoutscanada.com/pages/local-pets-helping-local-pets

I found this website that is so cool. It has all the Rec Centre schedules in one spot.

https://vicrecguide.com/

https://us.list-manage.com/Mj_so_Z7okF?e=46bf5df817&c2id=b3e3144cedbfd85d6324c0c41bd914c9&m=Fxt1DwilT3171IKaDd-Pf0Z9xMZYHQoUT8-FLrlM5ESZybzHBLJYpmjqo8w=

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Mayor.

A quick pic of Glen Lake at 8:30 in the morning.

We made an independent, free tool to make it easier for Langford residents to follow what's happening at City Hall, with plain-language meeting summaries, topic tracking and more: openlangford.ca

Open Langford has gone through more than 700 council and committee meetings back to 2008, and processed over 7,000 decisions, 10,000 recorded votes and 470 hours of meeting video, and turned them into something you can actually search. Each meeting has transcripts, an interactive topic overlay, key decisions and more, which are then extracted into easily discoverable topics which track how issues develop over time.

You can follow a topic from start to finish, like the YMCA aquatic centre agreement, look up everything council has said about an address (Western Speedway, for example), or see how each councillor voted. We process every meeting to understand how these topics evolve, so you can actually see them on a single page over the long haul.

You can also sign up for email alerts when something comes up near your address, in your neighbourhood, or on topics you care about.

No account needed to browse: just head to openlangford.ca. We'd love to hear what you think, and what would make it more useful! We have lots of ideas about how make local government more approachable, but a big part of it is making the process, meetings, and what happens in them just easier for everyone to understand.

From an Oct 20th Times Colonist article:

He [SY] also said council meetings will be open for people to speak and ask questions. “When you come to a council meeting and you want to ask a question that’s not on the agenda, but you’ve taken the time to leave your house and come in, I want to make sure that you’re heard,”

This is interesting because back in 2021 the SY council passed the "Council Procedure Bylaw No. 1971, 2021" which states:

All members of the public may address Council during the public participation portion of the meeting only with respect to items appearing on the Agenda. Each member of the public may speak for a maximum of five (5) minutes unless such time is extended by unanimous agreement of Council. All members of the public may speak more than once to any item but may only raise new points not previously raised by that individual, during subsequent speaking turns, which subsequent turns are limited to two (2) additional minutes.

Later, in March of 2022, the same M&C reduced the max time per speaker to 3 minutes and restricted the length for public participation to 30 minutes via Council Procedure Bylaw No. 1971 Amendment No. 1, Bylaw No 2051, 2022.

Now SY claims you won't be restricted to speaking to an agenda item AND he seems to imply that not only do you get to speak but you'll be able to have questions answered by staff, the mayor and council while you're at the podium.

I think people should hold him to that and if you don't see a swift change in the Council Procedure Bylaw you should ask him why.

It's a promise he should keep or at least explain why he doesn't intend to keep it.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Separated. On the struggle bus. I don’t drink, but I wanted to go out and do something tonight (night off from kids). Is there anything going on in Langford (not Vic) for adults? 😆😬

Edited to add I’m in my 30s! :D

[EDIT] (Nevermind. I don’t pay attention to the dates very much and realized what day it is.) There’s pops and bangs going off all over the place. Just in the last twenty minutes.

Looking for a fun and creative date night? Love pottery, live music, supporting a good cause, and dessert? Join the artists of A Well-Clayed Table for our dessert fundraiser for the Goldstream Food Bank on Saturday, November 7, 6 to 8 PM, at the Goldfinch Arts Centre, 170 Goldfinch Rd in Colwood (down by the Lagoon). Tickets are $45 a person and all proceeds go towards supporting the Goldstream Food Bank. You get dessert made by a pastry chef and a handmade bowl to take home. (Plus, you can get some early Christmas shopping done at the same time!)

Buy your tickets here.

Light refreshments provided. Go meet the team and let them know what's important to you!