After a lifetime of dedication to the ski industry in British Columbia and the communities formed within it, Sun Peaks’ first and only mayor, Al Raine, died Dec. 15 at the age of 83. 

Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM) issued a statement on their website informing the community of his death, including a statement Raine authored. 

“I have resigned as your mayor as of December 14th at midnight,” he wrote. “Not something that I had planned or something that I really wanted to do. However, as we all know one can’t control everything in life.”

“I have been lucky to have lived a full life with no regrets, with a supporting and wonderful wife, two healthy boys and a life full of adventures,” he added. “I would have been upset if I were 38 years old and diagnosed with ALS but at 83, the best years are behind me.”

His Bulbar ALS and adult-onset asthma made breathing steadily more difficult for him.

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For the last eight months since the diagnosis, Raine continued his work on the SPMRM council and attended each meeting regularly. He acted as mayor from the beginning of the municipality in 2010 until 2024. 

Al Raine and his legacy 

Raine dedicated much of his life to developing ski areas in B.C., among notable achievements in alpine ski coaching.

Raised in Vancouver, he spent a few years in Europe and became team coach for the Royal Air Force Ski Team in Switzerland from 1964 to 1965 before making his return to Canada in the mid-60s where he first met his wife, Olympian Nancy Greene in Rossland, B.C. 

Before becoming head coach and program director for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team in 1968, he had two other head coaching positions for the Ski Hawk Ski Club in Saint-Sauveur, Que. and the Southern Ontario Ski Zone.

He left coaching in 1973, moving full-time to Whistler, where his career in tourism development took off.

When appointed ski area coordinator of British Columbia in 1974, he developed a commercial alpine ski policy according to his resume to date, “encouraging considerable tourism investment in ski areas in British Columbia while protecting the public land and environmental interests.” 

“The policy that Al had influenced within the province of British Columbia has allowed rural B.C. to attract ski areas, and those ski areas serve those communities,” chief executive officer of Canada West Ski Areas Association Christopher Nicolson said. “They’re both economically important, but also socially important.”

In 1975, when Whistler was officially made a resort municipality, Raine became one of the first aldermen under former mayor Pat Carleton. With his joint roles, he became a liaison between the municipality and provincial government and helped to plan and coordinate the development of Whistler Village.

Raine was the first to propose developing Backcomb Mountain as a ski mountain in 1976 and led a negotiation regarding land use that led to the mountain’s opening in 1980.

In February 1982, he was named Freeman of the Resort Municipality of Whistler, recognizing his key contributions to developing Whistler Resort.

Throughout B.C., his projects while working as a consultant for the A.R. Resort Planning Group included carrying out studies for the B.C. heli-ski industry, devising a master plan for Hudson Bay Mountain and evaluating areas such as Big White, Shames Creek, Tod Mountain (now Sun Peaks Resort) and Snow Basin in Utah for ski potential.

Based largely on his innovative coaching and results while with the national alpine ski team, he was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1988.

Al Raine relocated to Sun Peaks in the mid-1990s after Nippon Cable bought Tod Mountain and he and Nancy purchased property to develop Nancy Greene’s Cahilty Lodge. 

Nicolson was there at the beginning, before Sun Peaks Resort was formed and the Tod Mountain marketing team consisted of two people, including himself.

Raine was hired to create and run the Sun Peaks Resort Association, now Tourism Sun Peaks (TSP), as executive director in 1994.

“He was inspirational and encouraging,” Nicolson said of Raine, working under his leadership in that position after his arrival. “Inspirational in that he had a vision and had a very good read on human nature, what our staff wanted, what was important to our community, which was emerging at the time, and what our guests wanted.”

Leading a team of young people, Raine allowed them to make mistakes and inspired them with a level of experience garnered from a lifestyle these folks hadn’t had the opportunity to live themselves yet.

“He coached a lot of people,” Nicolson added, not simply as a ski instructor but in the ways of the industry and helping people find their roles in Sun Peaks.

 “Skiing and snowboarding isn’t just skiing and snowboarding,” he said, touching on one aspect of his personal view of Raine’s legacy. “It’s an activity that creates and builds life skills, confidence, troubleshooting, physical attributes as well as mental attributes. That activity has a huge benefit to a child growing up.”

“People have been talking to me about how Al impacted their life, and it’s been absolutely incredible,” Al’s wife Nancy said, sharing that young athletes he coached when they were in their teens still feel the guidance and direction he provided in their lives. 

While running Cahilty Lodge, his personality shone through in how he taught his employees to grow and learn with the job.

When people would move on from their positions, Nancy said, “we were both thrilled to see them move on and take what they learned and keep on going with it. That was a big part of who he was.”

“He expected a lot out of you in terms of work,” Nicolson said. “But he also made it fun because he was so passionate about skiing and snowboarding.”

SPMRM councillor and owner of Vertical Cafe Rob O’Toole offered a similar sentiment, sharing that while working at Nancy Greene’s Cahilty Lodge in the mid-2000s, Raine would encourage him to bring his ski gear and take a break to hit the slopes during his shift.

While in Sun Peaks, Raine was elected chairman of TSP before his long-running mayorship. 

Through all of this, Raine brought his vision to fruition in the community, one Nicolson sees as supporting families, businesses, education and more based on what Al and Nancy had seen around the world and worked for in Whistler.

“They knew that for a resort to succeed, it needed to attract and retain people and businesses with energy that could exist through the dramatic ups and downs,” Nicolson explained.

Al and Nancy were recognized for ski tourism development, including being jointly named Citizens of the Year by the Whistler Chamber of Commerce in 1990, honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada in 2011 and presented with a lifetime leadership and achievement award at the 2024 Annual Summit of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

Raine’s contributions to ski development in Canada also led to a Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal and he was recently granted a King Charles III Coronation Medal in September of 2024 for his dedicated leadership and tourism development roles in Sun Peaks.

“Mayor Raine’s dedication to his community and his tireless work ethic continued until his final days,” an online statement from Sun Peaks Resort LLP (SPR) read. “His vision and leadership extended far beyond Sun Peaks, inspiring countless individuals across the ski and tourism industries.”

Helping build Sun Peaks as not only a tourism destination but a nice place to live and raise a family is the legacy his wife Nancy sees Al leaving behind.

“A community is really all about people, and Al was a good person,” she added. “He gave and he didn’t find that a chore. He found that a pleasure.”

A mentor in Sun Peaks

Having worked with Raine on municipal council for six years and feeling his support in his businesses endeavors, O’Toole sees Raine’s legacy in the people he’s influenced.

“People will ask, who’s going to step into his shoes or fill his shoes? And well, the answer is nobody, right? But the beauty of it is, because he did so much to develop so many people as a collective group, I think we can carry on and do the things he did, not one of us can, but the larger group of us can.”

Describing him as a mentor in many areas, O’Toole said two important virtues Raine supplied were honesty and integrity, and added that his leadership was very focused on serving others. 

Additionally, he shared that Raine was able to help him understand the concept of looking through someone else’s lens, understanding the opposing side in a discussion or debate.

Beyond professional leadership, O’Toole said his mentorship crossed over into other life lessons.

“He was just a very passionate and compassionate human being,” he explained, “I’ll probably feel that for decades to come, and hopefully pass it on to my kids too.”

As a business owner himself, Rob O’Toole referred to Al and Nancy as cheerleaders in the community, always checking in and seeing how his business was doing and encouraging the school, clinic and other public services.

“Even on busy days with big lineups at work, you would see him come by, and if he couldn’t come in, he would just knock on the glass, catch your attention and give you one of his signature two thumbs up, and then and smile and and be on his way,” he said about Al. “Then he’d stop back later when things were quieter to have a conversation.”

With lived experience, Raine was able to impart knowledge on smart business moves, a great person to bounce ideas off of.

Having known him 27 years, O’Toole proposed that Raine was at his absolute best when he was championing causes for the community, something he took part in before the municipality was even incorporated and he was appointed mayor.

Describing Raine as tireless when it came to the community, he said while away on vacation, Raine would send a message saying he and Nancy had made time to “meet with the federal cabinet minister on any number of subjects that were important to the Sun Peaks community.”

Always seeing everything as a team effort, Nancy said Al was proud of the people here doing amazing work.

Al Raine as mayor and where SPMRM stands now

Raine’s impact on SPMRM will live on as council continues to move his ideas forward.

Before moving on from council, Raine said to the group on more than one occasion that he felt he was leaving staff and council in a good place according to O’Toole, knowing they were hardworking and handling new responsibilities well.

Not only did he share this sentiment with staff and council, but Nancy as well.

“The one thing he wanted more than anything else was to have the [provincial] government recognize the reconciliation agreement that’s been agreed to by SPR, SPMRM and the three First Nations [the Adams Lake Band, Neskonlith Band and Skwlāx te Secwepemcúl̓ecw],” she said, along with seeing the BC Builds housing project reach completion.

Raine was confident in the community achieving these main goals that held much of his focus in the last several months, as well as other unfinished business including a permanent K-12 school.

“It’ll be, I think, a pretty exciting moment for all of us, when we start to see shovels, hopefully in the ground sometime this coming summer, summer 2025,” O’Toole said about the BC Builds project.

Since June, Raine had asked council to start a deputy mayor cycle, allowing each councillor an opportunity to chair meetings even as Raine held his position.

Counc. Kelly Dye did the quarter before O’Toole stepped in, and now Counc. Len Hrycan is taking on the role until March.

“There’ll be a requirement to appoint an elections officer and call a by-election,” O’Toole said, adding that their focus has been on Raine’s celebration of life on Jan. 15, and next steps are not on the immediate horizon. 

A member of staff will be appointed an elections officer when that time comes, typically the director of corporate services, Nicky Jonsson in this case. She would then start the process of setting a date and accepting nominations.

One of the recent memories O’Toole had of being on council with Al Raine was this past September, when himself, Counc. Julie Kimmel and chief administrative officer (CAO) Deanna Campbell attended the Union of BC Municipalities Convention with Mayor Raine.

“Mayors, CAOs, cabinet ministers from Victoria, from the provincial government, deputy ministers, people just had, I would characterize as this kind of genuine respect and admiration for him,” he said about the mayor.

“He was going so quick, moving from meeting to meeting and connecting with various individuals, doing everything he could to lobby for, in a positive way, any kind of growth or support that Sun Peaks was looking for.”

“It was a great privilege to have been mayor of Sun Peaks and work with your elected representatives,” Raine said in his final statement. “Sun Peaks has great potential, and it can be even better if we all look after our guests, count our blessings and continue to make visitors feel special.” 

Through the lens of his wife

Describing Al’s best quality as the ability to connect with people one-on-one and communicate, Nancy said throughout their entire relationship they never fought.

His support shone bright when he urged her to put her name forward for the Senate.

As a Canadian senator, Nancy would spend Monday to Thursday, 28 weeks a year in Ottawa.

“He was happy for me to do that, and I enjoyed it,” she said. “There wouldn’t be very many guys that, especially when you’re working together so closely, that’ll say go do something else for a while. But he did that, and so I shared Al with the community, and he shared me too.” 

Hearing the news of his diagnosis was shocking and difficult.

“We just hugged each other, and I told him I’m strong, and he said he knows I’m strong, and we’ll get through this.” 

In the end, she said she feels blessed, as well as grateful for the last eight months she was able to spend with him.

In every sense, she said they were a great partnership.

“We loved playing tennis together, cycling, hiking, skiing, whatever,” she shared. “I’ve lost my best ski buddy.”

Al Raine’s memorial took place in Sun Peaks on Jan. 15, shortly after the newspaper with this story copy went to print. In lieu of flowers the family is requesting donations to the ALS Society of B.C.