The torch has been posthumously passed at Sun Peaks, as two-term councillor and heir-apparent, Rob O’Toole, is set to be the next mayor of Sun Peaks.

The Chief Election Officer for the local by-election has declared the candidate list for the forthcoming by-election, and O’Toole is the only candidate listed on the ballot for mayor.

This means he will be acclaimed as the next leader of the Mountain Resort Municipality in just over a month, April 5th.

O’Toole is owner of Vertical Cafe in and Bistro in Sun Peaks.

His bio on his restaurant’s webpage says he arrived in Sun Peaks as early as 1997, came back to get married to his wife Tania in 2010, then returned in 2012 to become a permanent resident.

While the late mayor would never name him publicly, it’s believed O’Toole had previously been tapped to be Al Raine’s heir apparent as he prepared to call it quits before the last municipal election.

But when O’Toole decided to contest his Council seat instead, it pushed Al Raine back into the fold, prompting the long-time mayor to put himself forward for one more term in office.

Al Raine would not see the term through.

Raine was diagnosed last year with a rare form of Lou Gehrig’s disease, known as Bulbar ALS, which began impacting his speech and his breathing.

He ultimately decided to pass on the torch on his own terms, resigning as the Mayor of Sun Peaks at midnight on December 14th, 2024, before passing away with his family by his side a few hours later.

Vacant council seat to be contested

While Sun Peaks is used to getting its mayors by acclamation (Al Raine only ever faced one challenge since taking on the role of Mayor), there will be voting necessary in April, as four people are vying for Rob O’Toole’s vacant seat on Sun Peaks Council.

O’Toole was forced to give it up to run for the mayor’s chair.

The four challenging for include a collection of locally influential people

Alice Muirhead is the person who helps train the youngsters just getting their downhill skiing legs under them with the Sun Peaks Alpine Club.  In charge of the U12 group, Muirhead is also listed as an Outreach coordinator for the Rural Coordination Center of BC.

David Burnham is listed as the co-founder of Altitude-BI, which is a start-up providing business and market intelligence for investors and comes from a background as a trader and manager in the derivatives market.  He’s also listed as a board director and instructor with Adaptive Sports at Sun Peaks.

Katherine Campbell is the Executive Director of Adaptive Sports in Sun Peaks.  Katherine enters the race with a background as an organizer for a number of non-profits and is listed as the Chief Operating Officer for Weyland Sports out of Richmond.

Brian Gillespie may well be the best known amongst the group — at least locally.   He is the manager of Bottoms Bar in Sun Peaks.  He’s been running Bottoms since 2007 — before Municipal incorporation in Sun Peaks in 2010.