How Langley Became BC's Most Resilient City

✍️ By Debbie Balfour | WBN News | April 24, 2026| Click HERE for your FREE Subscription to WBN News and/or to be a Contributor.

#1 BCBusiness's 2026 Most Resilient City ranking in BC
8.49 / 10Township's score for resident sense of belonging

If you've lived in Langley for any stretch of time, the headline might feel a little obvious. Of course, the Township is resilient. Isn't that just how it works here?

That's sort of the point. This month, BCBusiness magazine named the Township of Langley the most resilient city in the province for 2026, and when you read through the reasoning, it lands less like a business award and more like a description of a Saturday morning at Krause Berry Farms.

A handshake economy

The piece, by senior editor Mihika Agarwal, profiles the people stitching this place together: Simone Hurwitz at Sabà Bistro in Fort Langley, quietly comping a regular's breakfast because she noticed they were having a bad day. Tim LaHay at the Barley Merchant, describing the local brewery scene as "co-opetition", competitors who share shelf space, trade suppliers, and show up for each other when a provincial liquor strike threatens everyone's inventory.

Shauna Wilton of Tourism Langley puts it plainly: "These industries don't compete for the same resources; they complement one another. Film crews support local hospitality businesses. Warehouse workers live in communities supported by retail and services."

Farms, film, and the Langley Loop

More than 70 percent of the Township's land is protected for agriculture, but the local economy has layered itself beautifully on top. Melanie MacInnes's 100-acre family farm is now Jamestown, a working film backlot that has hosted When Calls the Heart, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Riverdale, and Fire Country. Meanwhile, the Langley Loop, a rotating circuit of breweries, cideries, and distilleries from Brookswood to Fort Langley, has become a tourism engine that didn't exist a decade ago.

"You could almost map Langley through these breweries." — Tim LaHay, The Barley Merchant

The growing pains are real, too

The BCBusiness piece doesn't pretend the picture is perfect. Alf and Sandee Krause of Krause Berry Farms, a 200-acre Langley institution, said they routinely lose qualified job applicants because transit simply doesn't reach them. Mayor Eric Woodward is candid about housing and homelessness pressures the Township is expected to solve without the funding tools to do it. The population grew 27 percent between 2011 and 2021, reaching roughly 160,000 residents by 2024.

But that tension, between the rural stretches of Glover Road and the big-box congestion along 200 Street, is part of what the BCBusiness research found to be the source of Langley's strength, not a contradiction to it. The Township is holding two identities at once, and the people running businesses here have figured out how to serve both.

For the neighbours, the farmers, the chefs, the brewers, and the filmmakers who've built this place quietly over the last twenty years: congratulations. The rest of the province is finally taking notice.

Debbie Balfour | Real Estate Investing Success Coach + Podcast Host
📍 Website: www.DebbieBalfour.com
📧 Email: Debbie@DebbieBalfour.com
🔗 LinkedIn: Debbie Balfour
▶️ YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@DebbieBalfour

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TAGS: #Made In Langley #Langley Township #Local Business #Community #BCBusiness #Fraser Valley #Langley #WBN News Langley #Debbie Balfour

Sources

This article draws primarily on reporting by BCBusiness magazine, with additional context from the Township of Langley, Tourism Langley, and the featured local businesses.

Agarwal, Mihika. "From farms to film sets: Inside B.C.'s most resilient city, the Township of Langley." BCBusiness, April 2, 2026. https://bcbusiness.ca/business/bc-most-resilient-city-2026-township-of-langley/
BCBusiness 2026 Most Resilient Cities research and rankings. BCBusiness. https://bcbusiness.ca/business/bc-most-resilient-cities-2026-langley-township/
Tourism Langley. https://tourism-langley.ca
MacInnes Farms (Jamestown film backlot). https://www.macinnes-farms.com
The Barley Merchant taproom, Langley. https://thebarleymerchant.com
Sabà Bistro, Fort Langley. https://sabacafeandbistro.ca
Krause Berry Farms. https://www.krauseberryfarms.com
Township of Langley, Official Community Plan and Housing Action Plan. https://www.tol.ca/en/the-township/housing.aspx