The claim: Progress for Langley council candidate Sarb Rai, a school trustee, posted on Facebook that she “was in the rooms where these discussions happened and decisions were made,” and that Langley Strong incumbents “voted against the 212 connector road,” were “strongly opposed to Smith Athletic Park,” “continue to stall, delay, and prevent the land deal at Willoughby Elementary,” voted against letting the Township maintain school fields, and “voted against upgrades to Walnut Grove and Aldergrove Athletic.”

The verdict: FALSE. The minutes are public at calendar.tol.ca. One councillor wasn’t there, two “votes against” never happened, and the program Rai praises was killed by her own slate over the objections of the councillors she attacks.

Key Points

1. Blair Whitmarsh wasn’t there.

He won the October 25, 2025 byelection. Every vote on the 212 connector, Smith Park borrowing, Willoughby land swap and school fields came before that. “They” is carrying a lot of weight in Rai’s post.

2. Nobody voted against the 212 connector.

On September 9, 2024, council approved $6.634 million “for the land and construction of the 212 Street Connector.” Nobody opposed; Kunst voted yes, Richter and Martens were away. The design passed February 26, 2024 inside a $60-million Smith Athletic Park package; Kunst and Martens voted yes. The only “no” votes touching “212” came January 27, 2025: Kunst and Richter opposed a $5.83-million loan bylaw. Debt, not the road. They voted for the road. They voted against putting it on the credit card.

3. Smith Athletic Park: two councillors opposed the loans, not the park.

Richter voted against the borrowing every time; Kunst against most of it. A park pitched at $40 million is now $154.7 million if every phase is built. “We can’t keep borrowing like this,” Richter said.

4. Her own slate killed the land program she praises.

On February 24, 2025, Mayor Woodward moved to “endorse the suspension of the Township’s current and future joint park-school site land acquisition program.” It carried. Kunst, Martens and Richter voted no. The school board objected: the program “has been highlighted at the provincial level as a role model.” The Township bought the park land in 2020, and the Province says the school sites beside it were “purchased in partnership with the township through a joint-use agreement.” That was the previous council, Kunst and Richter included. She praises a program her slate cancelled and attacks the councillors who voted to save it.

5. There is no Willoughby Elementary vote to “stall.”

The February 5, 2026 Memorandum of Understanding says a feasibility study “led by the Township, will determine costs, timelines, and project progression.” No regular council meeting from January through July 2026 had a motion on the MOU, the land exchange, the study or the community centre. Four of nine councillors cannot block a vote that was never called. The only recorded vote is the mayor’s February 24, 2025 motion, eleven months before the MOU: Kunst and Richter opposed a rushed package; Martens voted yes after her motion to refer it to the school district failed; Whitmarsh wasn’t on council. In July the mayor blamed the trustees; now his candidate blames the councillors. The Township holds the pen. Full fact check here.

6. The school fields motion was a direction to talk, not a vote to maintain anything.

At the same February 24, 2025 meeting, a mayor’s motion told staff to “propose and attempt to negotiate” field leases at seven schools. No money attached. It carried 7–2; only Kunst and Richter opposed. Martens voted yes. Whitmarsh wasn’t on council. It was one of six last-minute mayor’s motions that afternoon that rewrote the Township’s dealings with the school district; Martens called the package “very heavy-handed” (Langley Advance Times). Staff were due to report by July 21, 2025. Nothing has surfaced since.

7. Every Walnut Grove and Aldergrove park vote passed unanimously.

June 23, 2025: the Walnut Grove Community Park plan. July 21, 2025: $110,000 for its tennis courts. December 15, 2025: $2.55 million for its diamonds. September 15, 2025: the Aldergrove Athletic Park concept plan plus $250,000 for design. March 9, 2026: $425,000 for the Aldergrove synthetic fields. April 27 and May 11, 2026: the Aldergrove indoor facility. Not one “no.”

8. What the four actually voted against: the 2026 budget, over record debt.

The only votes where all four said no: the February 23, March 9 and March 23, 2026 readings of the Five-Year Financial Plan. It took $15.66 million from the CAC reserve and $79 million from other reserves to plug the hole in Smith Park and the arenas after the B.C. Supreme Court struck down the Township’s unlawful CAC policy. Township debt went from $177 million in 2022 to $584 million in 2025. Whitmarsh: “Regardless of whether these are great projects or not, we need to manage our debt” (Langley Advance Times). These councillors vote for parks and fields. They vote against record debt.

9. “In the room”? Not for these votes, all of them council votes.

Trustees don’t sit or vote at the council table. If she was “in the room,” she was in the gallery. Her own board’s February 25, 2025 statement said the district had been “waiting since 2018” on a D.W. Poppy turf field and warned the mayor’s suspension of the land program could delay a new elementary school. She was in the room for that. It didn’t make the post.

The bottom line: Six claims, none supported by the record: she wasn’t in the room, one councillor wasn’t there, two “votes against” never happened, one was a 7–2 mayor’s motion Martens supported, and the land program Rai praises was scrapped by the mayor she runs with.