Can your landlord legally just go out of town without telling you?

Our landlord went out of town for a month, and he was unreachable to give our 60 days notice to... we left him a message on his phone, but he's saying that because we didn't give him written notice on the 1st (he wasn't in town!) we're responsible for another months rent. What is his obligation? We live in Ontario - is there a law that says he has to be reachable? What if there was an emergency?