Two Georgian Bluffs council candidates have serious credibility problems. This should concern all Town residents, of which I am one.

At the Kemble All Candidates meeting, Rick Winters was asked how and why his employment as town CAO came to an end. He thanked the moderator for the question, acknowledged this as the “elephant in the room” and stated he had been terminated due to a “difference of opinion” with the town council. The fact is that Mr. Winters was not fired because of some banal difference of opinion.

He was fired after a Toronto law firm was hired to investigate how he conducted himself as CEO. He was accused of both extreme harassment and bullying of an employee and misogynist and other vicious insults directed at members of council – his employers. The allegations were summarized in an extensive sworn affidavit. I know this because my office prepared the affidavit, served the thing and asked for his termination. To its credit, council did the right thing, immediately triggered the third party investigation and shortly thereafter he parted ways with the town. Until two weeks ago there was no public acknowledgement that he had been in fact terminated. Mr. Winters has now confirmed as much. He is free to release both the affidavit and his letter of termination and to let the voters decide why he was let go.

Christopher Azavedo called me last week in response to a series of questions I emailed him. He seems like a terrific, energetic young man. I give him credit for the call but it left more questions than answers:

1. Residence: He has a lovely wife and four very young children. They are enrolled in school in the Whitby area. I know this because I happened to strike up a conversation with his spouse at the Kemble All Candidates meeting before he pointed her and the kids out to the crowd from the stage. Despite this, he insists that he lives fulltime in Georgian Bluffs, not just seasonally. He insists that he will continue to live full time in Georgian Bluffs before and after the election. When I told him that few would believe this, he then mentioned something about “transitioning” up here. So we really don’t know where he lives. With others, I think it more than fair game to know whether a councillor is in fact embedded in this community or lives substantially elsewhere. It is not trivial information.

2. Nor do we know where he works. He claims that a corporate policy precludes him from identifying his employer lest in the eye of the public the employer somehow be affiliated with his municipal politics. I asked if this was grounded in a legal opinion. He did not have one but he did not want to risk losing his job. I urged him to consult with counsel since the fact is that any such policy, if it exists, would violate any number of Charter rights and would be void. The courts have so ruled repeatedly. So he is free to tell us where he works but he does not. Perhaps he does in fact work in the Pickering area and is understandably concerned about the optics of such. (The Hub found a man there named Christopher Azavedo on the Sunshine List but he apparently denied that he was that person). One’s vocational background is not a trivial piece of data either and the ratepayers should know what each candidate is bringing to the party.

3. Conflict of Interest: Short term rentals (STRs) are a hot topic in Georgian Bluffs, as evidenced by the time given to it at the Kemble meeting. When Mr. Azavedo was asked to speak to the issue, he did at some length but he at no time disclosed the fact that the “40 year family business” to which he alluded is in fact all about the short term rental of a bunch of housekeeping cottages. Now, in fairness, people get nervous at these meetings and don’t always get out what they want to communicate. But still, I urged him to publicly disclose the nature of his business since the simple fact is that as a councillor he would be permanently conflicted out from any and all discussions on STRs. If a councillor is rendered mute (and thus ineffectual ) on a hot topic, it would be good for the voters to know that before and not after the election.

I am certain that each of these candidates has his strengths and people should, of course, make up their own minds. But the lack of basic candour on such key background information does not auger well for either of them should they be elected.

Sincerely,

John A. Tamming,  Georgian Bluffs