Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Al Raine running for mayor of Sun Peaks

Next month the Interior mountain community will become second resort municipality in B.C.

The province's second resort municipality will elect its first council on June 12.

And Al Raine, who served as a government-appointed alderman on the Resort Municipality of Whistler's first four councils, is running for mayor of the new Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality.

Raine and Gerald Allgaier are the two candidates for mayor.

There are six candidates for three elected councillor positions: Doug Avery, Mike Forster, Deborah Frolek, Ines Popig, John Powell and Mario Pozza.

A fourth councillor will be appointed by the provincial government.

Following several years of study into incorporating Sun Peaks a referendum was held Jan. 30. Electors voted 73 per cent in favour of creating a municipality.

Raine, who was part of the referendum committee, announced his candidacy for mayor late last month. Co-author of B.C.'s Commercial Alpine Ski Policy and the provincial government's ski area coordinator in the mid-70s, Raine was a key figure in Whistler's development. In addition to serving on Whistler councils from 1975 to 1982 he was very active in the planning of Whistler Village and managed the investor proposal call for Blackcomb. He also led the Whistler Resort Association (now Tourism Whistler) and built and managed the Nancy Greene Lodge in Whistler.

In 1994 Al and Nancy Greene Raine moved to Sun Peaks, where they opened Nancy Greene's Cahilty Lodge. Raine also acted as the first executive director of the Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Association (Tourism Sun Peaks) and continues to chair the board of directors.

Raine believes that Sun Peaks must attract and hold families and individuals who value the mountain lifestyle.

"To be a great resort, we must be a great community," he said.

That involves identifying and building community facilities - including a school, recreation areas, medical services and public safety services - needed to grow the permanent population.

Allgaier, the challenger to Raine, is a carpenter by trade and a 45-year resident of Sun Peaks.

"I'd like to think I have the pulse of the community and I'm more than happy to represent them," Allgaier told Kamloops This Week .

One of first tasks of new council will be to create an official community plan. As well, the council must establish three advisory boards by Nov. 1, representing business, non-resident property owners and local First Nations.

Sun Peaks is currently an improvement district within the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. Popig is chair of the Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Improvement District.

The Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality will be inaugurated June 28.