Mike Klassen

Last updated
Mike Klassen
Vancouver City Councillor
Residence(s) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Alma mater University of British Columbia

Mike Klassen is a Canadian politician and communications strategist who was elected to Vancouver City Council in the 2022 municipal election. He is a member of ABC Vancouver.

Contents

Early life and career

Klassen attended Killarney Secondary School in Vancouver and earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of British Columbia. He worked as a production assistant in Vancouver's film industry and as a digital producer at Electronic Arts. [1]

Prior to his election, Klassen served as British Columbia provincial director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and vice president of public affairs at the BC Care Providers Association. [2] [3] As provincial director, Klassen led CFIB's response to several issues. Klassen criticized the provincial government for shifting the fee burden of recycling to businesses, [4] critiqued municipalities' spending on wages and benefits for public sector employees, [5] praised the City of Langford for eliminating annual business license fees, [6] and highlighted the need for a comprehensive plan for the province's reversion from the Harmonized Sales Tax. [7]

Vancouver municipal politics

From 2008 to 2012, Klassen wrote for CityCaucus.com, which he founded with Daniel Fontaine, now also a city councillor in New Westminster.

Under Sam Sullivan's mayoralty, Klassen served as vice chair of the Vancouver City Planning Commission. [1] Klassen previously ran for city council in 2011 with the conservative Non-Partisan Association (NPA). He placed 13th, receiving votes from 33% of voters.

In the 2022 municipal election, Klassen was elected to city council with the upstart ABC Vancouver, largely composed of former NPA members. After his election, he stated his main focus as councillor would be protecting seniors, especially after the 2021 heat dome. Klassen pledged action on a "no net new GHG" policy to aid Vancouver's climate change mitigation efforts. [8]

Klassen, previously executive director of the BC Wine Appellation Task Group, introduced a motion in April 2023 to expand the sale of wines in Vancouver grocery stores. The motion was approved unanimously. [9] [10]

In May 2023, Klassen moved an amendment to a city staff report concerning the municipal vacancy tax, which had been raised from 3% to 5% by the previous council under mayor Kennedy Stewart. City staff recommended lowering the tax back to 3%, but $3.8 million had already been collected from property developers and was allocated for social housing. Klassen's amendment directed staff to return the funds to developers and was approved by the ABC council majority in an 8-3 vote. [11]

Klassen led a city-wide "Vancouver Beautification Day" in June 2023 to remove graffiti and repair vandalism in partnership with business improvement associations. [12]

Electoral history

2022 Vancouver municipal election : Vancouver City Council
PartyCandidateVotes%Elected
ABC Vancouver Sarah Kirby-Yung (X)72,54542.30Green check.svgY
ABC Vancouver Lisa Dominato (X)70,41541.05Green check.svgY
ABC Vancouver Brian Montague 68,61840.01Green check.svgY
ABC Vancouver Mike Klassen 65,58638.24Green check.svgY
ABC Vancouver Peter Meiszner 63,27536.90Green check.svgY
ABC Vancouver Rebecca Bligh (X)62,76536.60Green check.svgY
ABC Vancouver Lenny Zhou 62,39336.39Green check.svgY
Green Adriane Carr (X)41,83124.39Green check.svgY
OneCity Christine Boyle (X)38,46522.43Green check.svgY
Green Pete Fry (X)37,27021.73Green check.svgY
Forward Together Dulcy Anderson33,98519.82
OneCity Iona Bonamis33,74519.68
Forward Together Tesicca Truong32,90019.18
COPE Jean Swanson (X)32,83319.15
Green Michael Wiebe (X)30,37717.71
OneCity Ian Cromwell29,83317.40
OneCity Matthew Norris29,66317.30
Forward Together Alvin Singh29,04916.94
NPA Melissa De Genova (X)26,57815.50
COPE Breen Ouellette24,88114.51
Forward Together Jeanette Ashe22,43213.08
Forward Together Russil Wvong22,10712.89
Green Devyani Singh21,25512.39
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Cleta Brown20,85412.16
Green Stephanie Smith20,40811.90
Forward Together Hilary Brown19,90211.61
COPE Nancy Trigueros19,15211.17
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Sean Nardi18,35310.70
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Grace Quan17,95510.47
COPE Tanya Webking17,67510.31
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Bill Tieleman 17,24010.05
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Stephen Roberts16,2619.48
Vision Stuart Mackinnon15,8659.25
NPA Morning Lee14,0838.21
TEAM for a Livable Vancouver Param Nijjar13,9508.13
VOTE SocialistSean Orr13,7448.01
Progress Vancouver Asha Hayer13,1077.64
NPA Ken Charko12,0837.47
Vision Lesli Boldt11,0706.46
NPA Elaine Allan10,9176.37
Affordable Housing CoalitionEric Redmond10,6176.19
NPA Arezo Zarrabian10,3616.04
Progress Vancouver Marie Noelle Rosa10,1115.90
Progress Vancouver Morgane Oger10,0155.84
Progress Vancouver David Chin9,3545.45
Progress Vancouver May He8,5935.01
NPA Cinnamon Bhayani8,5865.01
Independent Lina Vargas7,7144.50
Vision Honieh Barzegari6,8313.98
Progress Vancouver Mauro Francis6,5563.82
Independent Mark Bowen5,7063.33
Independent Dominic Denofrio4,9272.87
Independent Amy "Evil Genius" Fox3,7112.16
Independent Jeremy MacKenzie3,4462.01
Independent Kyra Philbert3,3821.97
Independent Tim Lý3,3391.95
Independent Marlo Franson2,8661.67
Independent Amie Peacock2,7451.60
Independent K. R. Alm2,3011.34
'(X)' indicates incumbent city councillor.
Percentage of votes shown is percentage of voters who voted, not votes cast.

Related Research Articles

The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) is a municipal political party in the Canadian city of Vancouver, British Columbia. It has traditionally been associated with tenants, environmentalists, and the labour movement. COPE is generally guided by democratic socialist principles following the split of its social democratic wing in 2014 to form OneCity Vancouver, and has a long history of advocating for issues such as improving public transit and investing in affordable housing. It last held a majority government on city council from 2002 to 2005. COPE describes itself as being committed to renter protections, ending homelessness, taxing the rich to build social housing, safe supply, free transit, Indigenous reconciliation, climate action, and other social and environmental reforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-Partisan Association</span> Municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was established by the city's business leaders in 1937 to challenge the democratic socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in that year's municipal election. The party has historically been described as centre-right and drawn its strongest support from Vancouver's business community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vancouver City Council</span> Governing body of Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor and ten councillors elected to serve a four-year term. Monthly, a deputy mayor is appointed from among the councillors. The current mayor is Ken Sim, who leads the party ABC Vancouver. City council meetings are held in Vancouver City Hall. The most recent election was on October 15, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Sullivan</span> Canadian politician, Mayor of Vancouver

Sam Sullivan is a Canadian politician who served as the MLA for Vancouver-False Creek. Previously, he served as the Minister of Communities, Sport, and Cultural Development with responsibility for Translink in the short-lived BC Liberal government after the 2017 election, as well as the 38th mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has been invested as a member of the Order of Canada. He is currently President of the Global Civic Policy Society and an adjunct professor at the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vision Vancouver</span> Political party in Canada

Vision Vancouver is a green liberal municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vision was formed in the months leading up to the 2005 municipal election.

Vancouver, unlike other British Columbia municipalities, is incorporated under a unique provincial statute, the Vancouver Charter. The legislation, passed in 1953, supersedes the Vancouver Incorporation Act, 1921 and grants the city more and different powers than other communities possess under BC's Municipalities Act.

Vancouver is one of two major cities in Canada to have political parties at the municipal level, the other being Montreal. Municipal politics in Vancouver were historically dominated by the centre-right Non-Partisan Association, a "free enterprise coalition" originally established to oppose the influence of the democratic socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. Following the 2008 municipal election, the social democratic Vision Vancouver became the dominant party in city politics for 10 years until its defeat in the 2018 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Vancouver municipal by-election</span>

A municipal by-election was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, on October 14, 2017. One empty seat on city council and all the seats on the Vancouver school board were filled.

Hector Bremner is a Canadian politician, who served as a member of the Vancouver City Council in Vancouver, British Columbia from 2017 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OneCity Vancouver</span> Political party in Canada

OneCity Vancouver is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 2014 by independent activists and former members of the left-wing Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), including David Chudnovsky and Rafael Joseph Aquino; Aquino was OneCity's first candidate to run for public office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Progress Vancouver</span> Political party in Canada

Progress Vancouver was a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, created in June 2018 to support the candidacy of Hector Bremner for mayor. Known as Yes Vancouver until October 2021, the party was the first municipal political party in British Columbia that stated their explicit dedication to YIMBY principles. The party was deregistered by Elections BC in July 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Fry</span> Canadian politician and business owner

Pete Fry is a Canadian politician and business owner in Vancouver, British Columbia, who has served as councillor on the Vancouver City Council since 2018. He is a member of the Green Party of Vancouver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josie Osborne</span> Canadian politician

Josie Osborne is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2020 provincial election. She represents the electoral district of Mid Island-Pacific Rim as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party. She has served in the cabinet of British Columbia since 2020, currently as Minister of Health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colleen Hardwick</span> Canadian politician and business owner

Colleen Hardwick is a Canadian politician and filmmaker in Vancouver, British Columbia, who served on Vancouver City Council from 2018 to 2022. Hardwick is the daughter of former Vancouver alderman Walter Hardwick and the granddaughter of former Vancouver park commissioner Iris Hardwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Vancouver municipal election</span> Vancouver municipal election

The 2022 Vancouver municipal election was held on October 15, 2022, the same day as the municipal elections held throughout British Columbia. Voters elected the mayor of Vancouver by first-past-the-post. Ten city councillors, 7 park board commissioners, and 9 school board trustees were elected through plurality at-large voting. In addition, voters were presented with 3 capital plan questions.

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver (TEAM) is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was established by Vancouver city councillor Colleen Hardwick, first elected in 2018 with the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), and a group of citizens from across the political spectrum who shared Hardwick's concerns about the nature and direction of city policies regarding budget priorities, property development, and engagement with residents and neighbourhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ABC Vancouver</span> Municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

ABC Vancouver, formerly A Better City, is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is led by incumbent mayor Ken Sim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Sim</span> Mayor of Vancouver since 2022

Kenneth Sim is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 41st mayor of Vancouver since 2022.

Rebecca Bligh is a Canadian politician, who was elected to Vancouver City Council in the 2018 Vancouver municipal election.

A by-election will be held on April 5, 2025 in Vancouver, British Columbia, to fill two vacant seats on Vancouver City Council, following the resignations of Christine Boyle and Adriane Carr.

References

  1. 1 2 "Mike Klassen: Independent focus". Business in Vancouver. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  2. ↑ Mckenzie, Kevin Hinton & Ryan. "BCBusiness". BCBusiness. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  3. ↑ L, Jamie (2022-10-17). "Mike Klassen Elected to Vancouver City Council". BC Care Providers Association. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
  4. ↑ "Recycling changes in B.C. continue to raise ire of businesses | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  5. ↑ Clarke, Katrina. "Canadian cities headed for financial crisis if they continue to overspend: report". National Post.
  6. ↑ "On the Street: Langford praised for licence decision". Times Colonist. 2013-10-26. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  7. ↑ "Official end of HST divides British Columbians". The Globe and Mail. 2013-03-31. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  8. ↑ "Meet Vancouver's four new city councillors". Vancouver Is Awesome. 2022-10-28. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  9. ↑ "Vancouver looking to expand wine sales in grocery stores | Dished". dailyhive.com. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  10. ↑ "CityNews". vancouver.citynews.ca. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
  11. ↑ Fumano, Dan. "Dan Fumano: Vancouver council opts to return millions in taxes to developers". Vancouver Sun.
  12. ↑ "'Vancouver Beautification Day' tackles graffiti across the city". British Columbia. 2023-06-17. Retrieved 2023-09-14.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.