Josie Osborne has been re-elected as mayor of Tofino with 85.3 per cent of the vote.
Council will be made up of Tom Stere, Britt Chalmers, Andrea McQuade, Al Anderson, Duncan McMaster and Dorothy Baert. The latter three are incumbents.
Candidates
Mayor
Josie Osborne (incumbent) – elected
Omar A Soliman
Jarmo K Venalainen
Council
Al H Anderson (incumbent) – elected
Stephen C Ashton
Dorothy A Baert (incumbent) – elected
Jason D Brown
Britt C Chalmers – elected
Craig W Heber
Chris T Heisterman
Stephanie K Hughes
Eric D Kingsley
Duncan W McMaster (incumbent) – elected
Andrea T McQuade – elected
Tom J Stere – elected
Boundary
Tofino is located in Clayoquot Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, about 40 kilometres from Ucluelet.
Population (2016)
1,932 (Statistics Canada warns people to be careful about relying on this data)
History
Clayoquot Sound was first home to the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations. The village of Opitsaht, still standing today, was established by the Tla-o-qui-aht as long as 5,000 years ago.
European contact is believed to have first taken place north of Clayoquot Sound in 1774, when Capt. Juan Perez was ordered to re-establish Spain’s claim to North America’s west coast.
He met with the Hesquiaht north of the place that would come to be known as Tofino, but he didn’t go ashore.
Tofino would gain its name in 1792, when Capt. Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Capt. Cayetano Valdés y Flores explored Vancouver Island.
It was named for Spanish hydrographer Vicente Tofiño de San Miguel, who had taught cartography to Galiano.
Tofino’s townsite would be established in 1909, drawing settlers from Norway, England and Scotland.
Initially known as a trading town, Tofino would slowly grow as a tourist destination. Its appeal would grow with the construction of a logging road between Port Alberni and the coast.
People would come, set up camps and surf the massive waves in the Long Beach area.
That road was paved in 1972.
A key point in Tofino’s history came in 1993, when activists protested logging activity south of the district, leading to the “largest mass arrest in Canadian history” up to that point.
Today, tourism is Tofino’s primary industry, drawing as many as a million people every year.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$91,904/$111,736
Political representation
Federal
Gord Johns (NDP)
Provincial
Scott Fraser (BC NDP)
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