“Process guy” Gord Klassen runs for another term on council

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — After 11 years as a councillor, Gord Klassen knows the importance of having a variety of people on council involved in making big decisions for the city’s future. He considers himself “a real process guy”— a role he intends to keep playing next term as he runs for reelection.

Klassen also spent two terms as a trustee for School District 60. That led him, initially, to run for council. 

“When I was on the school board, I really discovered how important it is to have strategic partnerships with organizations…to work together to do more than we could on our own.” 

That strategic mindset, combined with a deep desire to help people born from 25 years as a pastor in Fort St. John, still shapes Klassen’s drive to remain in the community’s leadership after 11 years. 

“For me,” he says, “[being on council] is about trying to do what I can to make the community better tomorrow than it was yesterday.”

Klassen recognizes that his experience and nature—he calls himself a “process guy” — make his voice distinct on the council, just as the backgrounds of others make their voices distinct. He considers this a vital part of decision-making.

“I think it’s very important that there be a good mix of people on council, whether it be backgrounds, age, experience, career backgrounds, knowledge, personality. It really strengthens [a council] because you’ve got all those different perspectives coming together to discuss an issue,” he explains. “And what that allows you to do is see all sides of it.”

There are also decidedly different natures and discourse styles in these different backgrounds. Klassen says oversight and strategy are “the way my brain works.”

The process guy knows these attributes are valuable but not the only valuable assets on a council.

“There are some people who are …passionate and excited and do things and jump in, and that’s great too. So sometimes that moves me a little faster than I’m comfortable, but that’s a good thing,” he said.

“I can balance that out [by saying] ‘Let’s make sure we know that we’re gonna land on solid ground when we make that leap.'”

Past points of achievements, for Klassen, echo the work he wants to keep up on council in the future: namely, affordability. 

“As a process guy, I’m always very careful… in the long term, I want a community that we can all afford to live in, that my children and my grandchildren can grow up and be successful and be prosperous and afford to live in.”

In practice, that looks like projects, infrastructure, and progress without overspending—something he notes that the current council and city staff has been building a good track record on.

“It’s about doing as much as we possibly can with what we have,” he says.