Cloverdale-Langley City Byelection: What You Need to Know

The Cloverdale-Langley City riding requires it's own special election (aka a byelection) because the sitting MP (John Aldag) resigned his position to run in the recent BC provincial election.

Although he is a member of the federal Liberal party, he ran for the BC NDP in the recent election.

Use this detailed map from Elections Canada can help you determine if you live in Cloverdale-Langley City.

Tamara Jansen previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Cloverdale—Langley City riding from 2019 to 2021.

She first entered politics by defeating Liberal incumbent John Aldag in the 2019 federal election, winning by a margin of 1,302 votes.

She is hoping to reclaim this seat now that her Liberal counterpart has resigned.

In 2019, it came to light that Ms. Jansen rented out her greenhouse for an event that included the use of blackface.

Later, during the debate of Bill C-6 in 2021, then-MP Jansen controversially defended the practice of LGBTQ+ conversion therapy, a practice which seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, and which a UN report says can amount to torture.

There is no evidence that conversion therapy works, and is almost universally opposed by medical groups, including the Canadian Psychological Association.

In her defense of the now-illegal practice, she quoted a Bible verse that used the word "unclean", which quickly went viral. While she eventually apologized for what she claims was a "misunderstanding", she eventually abstained from voting on the bill.

During a recent "Meet the Candidates" interview, Ms. Jansen listed 3 main priority issues for her campaign:

1. Repeal the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (GGPPA)*
2. Build more homes
3. Stop crime

Ms. Jansen has not endorsed any sort of plan to tackle climate change in the absence of the government's current carbon pricing and rebate plan.

Ms. Jansen has also not clarified if she supports her party leader's opposition to the government's plan to cut taxes via GST holiday.

Editor's Note: While Conservative politicians have coined their opposition to the GGPPA as "Axe the Tax", the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that this legislation does not meet the definition of a tax. Rather, the GGPPA was created to be a revenue-neutral polluter pays method of pricing greenhouse gas emissions. Under this model, upstream corporations such as oil and gas companies pay a fee for the downstream emissions caused by their products. The revenue from those fees are paid back to taxpayers as quarterly rebate cheques in hopes that it will offset increased costs.

Madison Fleischer is a local small-business owner who graduated from Trinity Western University with a degree in Political Science. She later earned a law degree with a focus on Indigenous rights and human rights law.

She has over a decade of experience in community service, earning accolades such as being named one of Surrey's Top 25 Under 25 for her initiative, Slava Sweatshirts, which provided financial assistance to Ukrainians during the ongoing conflict.

Ms. Fleischer has recently faced controversy over her previous claims of Métis heritage.

The Waceya Métis Society released a statement after meeting with her in which they expressed disappointment at her inability to provide any evidence to support her claimed Métis identity.

Ms. Fleischer has since said that she is applying for Métis membership.

During a recent "Meet the Candidates" interview, Ms. Fleischer listed 3 main priority issues for her campaign:

1. Affordable housing for Canadians
2. Strengthening the public healthcare system
3. Keeping communities safe

Ms. Fleischer has vocally supported the Liberal government's efforts to cut taxes via a 2-month GST tax holiday.

Vanessa Sharma has a significant history of engaging in advocacy work, particularly in the areas of healthcare access, affordable housing, and climate action. As part of this work, she is currently serving as Equity Vice President for the Canadian Labour Congress, representing MoveUP.

Ms. Sharma works with FortisBC to do community engagement work.

While she does not live in the Cloverdale-Langley City riding, she did live there for many years but recently departed for Chilliwack due to the rising cost of housing in the area.

Her political background as an advocate for social and economic justice seems to be heavily informed by her personal experience, both through her involvement with organized labour as well as her personal experience with the housing crisis.

During a recent "Meet the Candidates" interview, Ms. Sharma listed 3 main priority issues for her campaign:

1. Affordable housing for families
2. Accessible healthcare, mental health services
3. Worker's rights

Ms. Sharma contends that the Liberal government has not done enough to help average Canadians, and that her Conservative counterparts will only make things worse by cutting funding for health care, pensions, and essential services.