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Al Raine elected mayor of Sun Peaks

One of Whistler's first municipal councillors is now the mayor of Sun Peaks, or more specifically the newly created Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality.

One of Whistler's first municipal councillors is now the mayor of Sun Peaks, or more specifically the newly created Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality.

Sun Peaks recently received its local government charter and held its first council election on Saturday, June 12. Raine reportedly received 283 votes to get the win, several times more than his opponent.

He will be joined on council by Maria Pozza, Mike Forster and Ines Popig. Darcy Alexander, vice president and GM of Sun Peaks Resort Corporation, was appointed as the fourth councillor.

Residents living and working at Sun Peaks voted 73 per cent in favour of incorporating as a town in a February referendum.

The new council will take on issues like infrastructure, zoning, security and services, freeing up groups like Tourism Sun Peaks to focus on marketing and running the resort community.

"To be a great resort you need to be a great community," Raine said. "With Sun Peaks' new status as a municipality we will be in a better position to lobby for essential community services like a school and healthcare."

He said there are also financial advantages. In addition to municipal tax revenues Sun Peaks will be eligible for a provincial grant for small communities. And as a mountain resort municipality the local government will receive a portion of the hotel HST levied in Sun Peaks.

"We want to make Sun Peaks a great place to live," said Raine. "We have some similar issues to those faced in Whistler. We need to look at providing affordable housing and employee housing. We also want to develop more community facilities and services. Eventually we would like to see an eastern access road to the resort."

Raine is not the only family member currently in public office. His wife Nancy Greene was appointed a senator by the Conservative Party in January 2009.