Mayor's Leave of Absence

Posted: September 30, 2020

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Mayor Osborne Takes an Unpaid Leave of Absence to Pursue Candidacy in Provincial Election

Leave is effective as of September 28, 2020; Acting Mayor Schedule in effect

Effective September 28, 2020, Mayor Josie Osborne is on an unpaid leave of absence from her role as Mayor of Tofino in order to pursue a seat in the Provincial legislature in the upcoming BC election for the riding of Mid Island-Pacific Rim.

The Mayor's leave of absence will continue until the earliest of the following:

• if Josie Osborne withdraws her candidacy, the day after her withdrawal;
• if the nomination is challenged and the court declares Josie Osborne no longer to be a candidate, the day after that declaration;
• in all other cases, the day after the official declaration of the election results.

Leave of Absence

There is no provincial legislative requirement for a member of local government to take a leave of absence if they decide to run for provincial office. However, the Community Charter does include limits to the amount of meetings that can be missed before a member is disqualified from office, and the District's Remuneration Bylaw includes guidance for compensation when meetings are missed.

The Charter allows members of Council to be absent for more than 4 regularly scheduled meetings or 60 consecutive days for illness or injury, or with the leave of Council. Section 3.4 of the “District of Tofino Council Remuneration Bylaw No. 1254, 2018”, provides Council with the discretion to grant a paid or unpaid leave of absence outside of the provisions for sick and vacation leave, at the request of a member. Mayor Osborne requested that her leave be unpaid.

Acting Mayor Schedule

When the Mayor is absent or otherwise unable to act, or when the Office of the Mayor is vacant, Tofino’s Meeting Procedure Bylaw No. 1229, 2016, provides for each member of Council to serve as Acting Mayor on a rotating, monthly basis. The 2020 Acting Mayor schedule is online at www.tofino.ca/council and the remainder of the year is listed below.

Alternatively, Council may choose to designate one Councillor to serve as Acting Mayor until such time as a person is elected or otherwise appointed as Mayor. To date, Tofino Council has not chosen this option. 

Possible By-Election

If elected MLA for this riding, Mayor Osborne intends to resign from the Office of the Mayor.

As soon as practicable thereafter, Council must then appoint a Chief Election Officer and a by-election must take place within 80 days. The word “practicable” in section 54(4) of the Local Government Act is not defined, and allows Council some flexibility in deciding when to appoint a Chief Election Officer, including taking into consideration the timing of the election process relative to things like the Christmas season/December holidays.

Please direct any correspondence to the Mayor to the Acting Mayor as noted for each month above.

Questions can be sent to Elyse Goatcher-Bergmann, Manager of Corporate Services, at elysegb@tofino.ca or 250-725-3229 ext. 610.