Mark Allan Marissen (born 1966 in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian political strategist and principal of Burrard Strategy Inc., a communications company he founded in 1998. Marissen is also a senior advisor to McMillan Vantage Policy Group, affiliated with

McMillan LLP McMillan LLP is a Canadian business law firm serving public, private and not-for-profit clients across various industries in North America and around the world. McMillan LLP is the only national Canadian law firm with an office in Hong Kong, in ad ...

, a Canadian business law firm. Marissen recently announced that he is a candidate for Mayor of Vancouver. He will be seeking the nomination for

Progress Vancouver 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 ...

, formerly known as YES Vancouver. In July 2018, Marissen helped to create YES Vancouver, a new "

YIMBY The YIMBY movement (short for "yes, in my back yard") is a pro-housing movement in contrast and opposition to the NIMBY ("''not'' in my back yard") phenomenon. The YIMBY position supports increasing the supply of housing within cities where hous ...

" municipal political party devoted to solving Vancouver's housing crisis by focusing on zoning reform. YES Vancouver ran candidates for council, school board and park board.

Hector Bremner Hector Bremner is a Canadian politician, who served as a member of the Vancouver City Council in Vancouver, British Columbia from 2017 to 2018. Early life Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Bremner spent his early childhood years in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

, a councillor for the Non Partisan Association of Vancouver, ran for mayor under the YES banner, but only took 5.73% of the vote. Marissen was also a director of Pacific Future Energy Corporation, working with former Appeal Court Judge

Wally Oppal Wallace Taroo "Wally" Oppal, (born 1940) is a Canadian lawyer, former judge and provincial politician. Between 2005 and 2009, he served as British Columbia's Attorney General and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism, as well as Member of ...

, former International Trade Minister

Stockwell Day Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (born August 16, 1950) is a Canadian former politician who led the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. A provincial cabinet minister from Alberta, Day served as minister ...

and former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations

Shawn Atleo Shawn A-in-chut Atleo (Ahousaht First Nation, born 1967), is an activist and politician, a former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada (serving 2009 to 2014). He also has served since 1999 as a Hereditary Chief of the Ahousaht ...

. Former National Chief

Ovide Mercredi Ovide William Mercredi (born January 30, 1946) is a Canadian politician. He is Cree and a former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations. He is also the former president of the Manitoba New Democratic Party. Early life and career A ...

and Dave Coles, former President of the Canadian Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP), were also involved in the project. Marissen is the co-founder of Kanata Clean Energy. Marissen graduated from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

with a bachelor's degree in political science, and also attended

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

. Marissen resides in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, and has one child (Hamish Marissen-Clark) by his ex-wife, the 35th British Columbia Premier

Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...

. Marissen's older brother is professor of music Michael Marissen.

Politics

Following Dion's resignation, Marissen supported

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a histo ...

for Liberal Party leader. Ignatieff was confirmed as Leader at a national convention in Vancouver in late April 2009. In the most recent federal Liberal leadership contest, Marissen was campaign manager for

George Takach The 2013 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was triggered by Michael Ignatieff's announcement on May 3, 2011, of his intention to resign as leader following the party's defeat in the 2011 federal election. On May 25, 2011, Bob Rae was ...

for Liberal Party leader. After Takach withdrew from the contest, Marissen joined him in supporting

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

. Marissen was the co-chair for the election of

. More recently, Marissen served as strategist for Michael Lee's campaign for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party, where Lee was 30 points short from being on the final ballot.

References

External links

"Politics 'in the Blood' for Liberal insider", ''National Post'', October 6, 2008

* ttp://www.bcbusiness.ca/people/mark-marissen-on-the-mark ''BC Business: "On the Mark"'', June, 2007br>"A West Coast Power Player", ''Vancouver Sun'', January 6, 2007 "Drug Raids Highlight Political Links", ''Globe and Mail'', December 31, 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marissen, Mark 1966 births Living people Canadian political consultants Carleton University alumni People from St. Thomas, Ontario Liberal Party of Canada