City of Grande Prairie Council Candidate Profile: Chris Thiessen

2. What skills or experience do you have that you feel would make you a good fit for the role?

As a person, I am a character and a man of character; an out-of-the-box thinking change-maker, and active supporter for good causes. I am hard-working, social, friendly, an excellent public speaker, and usually have no trouble standing out in a crowd. As a decision maker, I offer intelligence, creativity, authenticity, integrity, a unique perspective, a sense of humor, and an open ear to all. I look for the solutions, ask questions, work well on a team, speak my truth and love engaging in meaningful conversation; Honesty is my Policy and Caring is my Procedure.

Besides serving on Council for the past three terms, I also have an extensive and diverse record of volunteer service in the city over the past two decades. In this, I have served to my fullest in a multitude of arts, culture, humanitarian, health, education, justice, environmental, and charitable causes. I am dedicated towards building a beautiful, more sustainable and conscious community for all to thrive in.

In this pursuit on Council, twelve years ago I pledged 10 specific promises that I would do if elected. They were: 1) Get the city more involved in creating social housing (300-500 affordable homes across the spectrum with supports), 2) Create an Edible Landscaping Policy to establish community orchards and gardening programs, 3) Make Transit more efficient, create “express routes”, and provide youth free access to improve ridership, 4) Reopen the Leisure Centre, 5) Invest in large-scale community events/festivals to draw tourism into the region and bring people together, 7) Manage our resources wisely and Invest in renewable energy to reduce overall operational costs, 8) Expand the natural trail network, connect every neighbourhood, and plant more trees, 9) remove fluoride from the water, and 10) improve cab safety. Looking back on them now, I am fortunate to be able to say that I found a way to keep most of those promises and made the community better for all of them.

3. What do you feel are the key or main election issues in your community, and what are the issues of priority for you?

The main issues within our community that keep coming up prior to and during this election are affordability, housing, and public safety. These align with my top priorities. To illustrate with a couple examples, this past term I was the only member of Council to vote against the municipal police transition – largely due to what I felt was a “Swiss cheese” costing plan on capital expenses, especially around IT records management systems and future capital maintenance and renewal. I also fought hard from early on to defeat a proposed Stormwater Utility which would have taxed some commercial/industrial businesses out of GP, cost our school divisions hundreds of thousands of dollars, forced some churches to close, and ultimately cost our resident homeowners more perpetually over time.

My other priorities are managing growth wisely and advocacy with all levels of government. Each will play a big role in offsetting our costs to residents and to meet service needs within the community. From building more homes, aiding the Municipal Police transition, developing Maskwa Medical Centre, constructing Highway 40X, creating a long-term Treatment Centre facility, and for whatever Council decides to do with the dam/reservoir in Muskoseepi Park… Provincial and Federal dollars and attention will need to be invested here. As decision-makers we must be strategic and focused in our goals, planning and processes to speak fruitfully on behalf of our community.

4. Where can people learn more about you?

My website www.christhiessen.com, is where you can find my platform, what I stand for and more. I am also on Facebook and Instagram.

by Tanner Smith