- Hub staff
Some municipal candidates are running in Georgian Bluffs on a platform of transparency and accountability. We are providing the following information we researched from publicly available sources and connecting with the candidates to counter circulating misinformation.
Christopher Azavedo has been reported to be an Inspection and Maintenance Mechanic for Ontario Power Generation at one of the Lake Ontario nuclear plants, with a 2021 salary of $207,493.98 (source: Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure.). He says this is false - "someone has just found a person with the same name on the list." He maintains he cannot say publicly who his employer is because his employer's code of conduct "does not allow me to affiliate any politics with my place of employment in order to protect the company from unintended political views."
His wife was reported to be an elementary school teacher employed by the Durham Region School Board. Mr Asavedo says this is also untrue, again that it is someone wuth a similar, not the same name. He maintains that the family lives year-round in Georgian Bluffs, and has no other home, but Georgian Bluffs resident John Tamming says Mrs Azavedo told him at an all candidates meeting that ther children attended scool in the Whitby area.
The seasonal cottage business which Mr. Azavedo operates near Oxenden as Bayshore Cottages, was operated by Joe D'Costa in the 1990s as Southshore Cottages. Since Mr. Azavedo began operating the cottages mostly as Short-Term Rentals, there are public records of ongoing interaction with inspectors from the Township of Georgian Bluffs and the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority, including Orders to Comply pursuant to the Ontario Building Code for septic system alteration work done without a permit, and reports of significant alterations to municipally-owned shoreline including removal of trees and vegetation and trucking in sand and boulders.
The Bayshore Cottages website boasts of a "lovely man-made beach" which testimonials refer to as a "private beach" which is "raked daily". This appears to be on the Township property in referred to in the public records.
Mr. Azavedo responded to our enquiry: "I can also confirm that yes that order for the septic was given to me but it was given to me in error and was rescinded by the Township without any work being required or a permit being required. Any and all orders were rescinded and I have never had to comply to anything issued because they were wrongly issued. I was not charged with doing any work without permits on municipal property or by Grey Sauble or the MNR and I obtained all approvals and permissions as advised by those agencies at the time."
As a property owner, Mr. Asavedo meets all criteria for voting and running for municipal office in the Township of Georgian Bluffs.
We have also received what we consider defamatory communication from a person using a pdeudonym about another Georgian Bluffs candidate.
In the interest of transparency, we have researched and provide the following facts to counter that misinformation.
Colin Correia fully meets the criteria of being a candidate for council in Georgian Bluffs, being a Canadian Citizen, at least 18 years old, and residing within the Township of Georgian Bluffs.
Mr. Correia has a permanent position with the school board and has never been suspended by his board or College of Teachers In addition to day teaching, he is a volunteer firefighter, teaches a mechanics course at Georgian College, bakes for the Georgian Bay Country Market in summer.
