He may not have a fancy website or lawn signs, but Bradford native Carlos Botelho plans to run his campaign "the old school way" in the upcoming 2022 Municipal Election, running for the Ward 2 councillor seat.
He believes the best way to get his message across is direct contact with the people.
"Facebook is not going to work (for the campaign),"he said. "I got to go door to door."
And since he has lived in town his whole life, he says he knows many already living in his ward and the issues affecting them.
Botelho has deep roots planted in the community, and aside from a few years, has lived in the ward his whole life.
"I was going to run (for council) a long time ago, but I was too busy," he told BradfordToday.
Now, he felt was the right time to enter the race.
"I have a lot of history here on how things came to be," he said.
Botelho has a background working in the aviation field, fixing planes, and working at Buttonville and Pearson Airports. After 9/11 he went back to university to study civil engineering and science.
He runs his own business, Fred's Paving, on Artesian Industrial Parkway, looking after about a dozen employees. The business is named after his father, Alfred Botelho, who started it in 1971 and is also one of the founders of the town's Portuguese Cultural Centre.
He remembers when Bradford was just a small town, with only one set of traffic lights.
"I used to count the cars, in front of my house," he said. "On a Sunday, there would be one (driving by) every 40 minutes."
While the town has grown drastically since then, Botelho still enjoys its small-town feel.
In his mind, the growth has been "a little excessive."
"I am okay with growth... but our property taxes never go down, so there's something wrong there," he said. "I have a background in engineering so when it comes to tenders and negotiations with contractors (at council), I have the experience."
He notes much of his ward encompasses the business area, including his own on Artesian Industrial Parkway and those in the downtown core which he would like to help support. His business was responsible for repaving the downtown sidewalks during the pandemic, which he said made a drastic improvement for pedestrians.
Many of the residents in Ward 2 he says are seniors who are concerned about finding affordable homes to downsize into. He would like to see more options available for them here.
If elected, he says he wants to keep council and town staff aligned, working together also allowing each to work on their respective portfolios.
Botelho can be reached by email at [email protected].
Election day is Oct. 24.
