Voting underway in federal by-election in BC’s Cloverdale-Langley City riding

On By Littum

Polls have opened in a by-election for the federal seat of Cloverdale-Langley City, in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland.

It comes about six months after former Liberal MP John Aldag, who had represented the party in the seat from 2015 to 2019 and then from 2021, resigned to run for the BC NDP in the provincial election. Aldag ended up losing to Harman Bhangu of the BC Conservatives in the October 19 vote.

Madison Fleischer, a local business owner and community leader, is running for the Liberals in Cloverdale-Langley City.

Fleischer recently asked questions from a local Métis community organization about her claim to aboriginal heritage.

The federal Conservatives are hoping to repeat the riding with their candidate Tamara Jansen, who held the seat from 2019 to 2021.

Vanessa Sharma is running for the NDP. Her party profile describes her as a mental health advocate and anti-racism activist.

A woman in a red blazer sits on a set of steps outside a home.
Madison Fleischer is the liberal candidate running in the Cloverdale-Langley City by-election. (Madison Fleischer/Facebook)

The Libertarian Party and the People’s Party are also fielding candidates in the riding.

This will be the 11th federal by-election since the 2021 election. This year, the Liberals suffered two by-election blows, losing their strongholds of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun and Toronto-St. Paul’s to the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives respectively.

A white woman is seen in a greenhouse.
Tamara Jansen is the conservative candidate for the Cloverdale-Langley City by-election. (Denis Dossman/CBC)

Cloverdale-Langley City covers an area of ​​Surrey, BC, as well as the entire city of Langley. The 2021 census showed it had about 130,000 inhabitants.

Campaigns in Cloverdale-Langley City have been closely fought in the previous two elections, with Aldag losing to Jansen by fewer than 1,500 votes in 2019 and winning by about 1,650 votes in 2021.

Voter information cards were not sent out to voters due to the weeks-long strike at Canada Post. Elections Canada encourages voters to check out its website for details on how to vote.