Visitors entering Port Alberni, B.C. were temporarily greeted by a defaced billboard showing Mayor Mike Ruttan holding a pillow and a blanket after cameras caught him sleeping during a meeting.
A video capturing the July 11 meeting where councillors were listening to a presentation by a city engineer shows Ruttan slowly dozing off before being pictured out cold.
“I guess the mayor did nod off a bit, but sometimes in that room it’s stuffy and the air conditioning isn’t working very well,” Jack McLeman, a Port Alberni councillor, told CTV Vancouver Island.
Ruttan is not the first politician to be caught sleeping during a meeting. Former Calgary MP Rob Anders was caught nodding off in plain sight during Question Period in the House of Commons in 2011 and then again in 2012 during a presentation by a veterans advocacy group. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was also caught sleeping during a budget speech by President Barack Obama in 2011.
But his colleagues say they aren’t surprised that Ruttan fell asleep simply because of how hard he works.
“He’s the hardest working mayor I’ve ever seen. I’ve been at early morning meetings and late meetings on the same day and he’s at all of them,” said Scott Fraser, Port Alberni MLA, who admitted that while he’s never fallen asleep in a meeting he has gotten close.
Ruttan always seems to be working, said former mayor Ken McRae. According to him, Ruttan is often attending meetings and functions into the early hours of the morning and sending off emails to councillors at 2 a.m.
“He probably won’t be doing it again,” McLeman said with a chuckle. “We’ll get him some more coffee.”
While some saw the pillow and blanket as a little bit of fun, the city considers it vandalism and removed the two objects on Thursday morning.
With files from CTV Vancouver Island
