By Canadian Press

New law forces MLA Misty van Popta to resign from the Township of Langley council

May 30, 2025 | 12:45 PM

VICTORIA — A B.C. Conservative legislator has lost her job as a councillor in the Fraser Valley as a new law banning MLAs from also serving as municipal representatives comes into effect.

Misty Van Popta represents Langley-Walnut Grove in the provincial legislature, but lost her job as a municipal councillor in the Township of Langley on Thursday when the Eligibility to Hold Public Office Act came into effect, forcing her to resign.

Van Popta was elected as councillor in 2022, but didn’t step down after being elected to the legislature last year, drawing criticism from the provincial NDP.

The NDP’s Darlene Ratchford, who tabled the new law as a private member’s bill, says legislators need to give “110 per cent” to their jobs, and can’t do that if they are trying to hold down another.

Van Popta – whose photograph no longer appears on the township’s website – says her decision to hold two elected offices at the same time has precedent and was always meant to be a “temporary solution.”

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Van Popta adds that she was planning to resign as councillor in 2026, the year of the next municipal elections, to save her municipality the cost of a by-election.

The last general municipal election in the Township of Langley cost about $500,000.

Van Popta’s Conservative colleague Heather Maahs quit her Chilliwack school board position after becoming an MLA last year. The school board byelection in March cost an estimated $100,000.

Van Popta said she felt that the NDP singled her out, and she was able to prove she could do both jobs.

She said that being a municipal councillor in her community with a population of about 162,000 is a “part-time job.”

Ratchford said the bill was not focused on anyone in particular, but meant to close a loophole.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press