Blow the Whistle!

The City of Oshawa should adopt a confidential whistleblower policy that enables current and former employees to report suspected misconduct, weak controls, and ineffective processes without fear of reprisal.

We have lost many tenured employees through retirements, dismissals, and voluntary leave.

What can they tell us about working at the City of Oshawa? Why wouldn’t they want to see improvements to the City processes, employment, and the overall state of the City? How do we get them and current staff to ‘open up’ and help reform our City? We need a whistle blower policy!

Guidance published by McCarthy Tétrault describes effective whistleblower policies as tools that promote organizational accountability and encourage employees to report actual or suspected misconduct internally before escalating concerns to external stakeholders or regulators. Early internal reporting can allow an organization to address substantiated concerns while reducing avoidable financial and reputational harm. Source: https://www.mccarthy.ca/en/insights/blogs/canadian-employer-advisor/key-considerations-for-building-an-effective-whistleblowing-policy

There are clear benefits to employers adopting effective whistleblower policies:

• Having a clear and effective whistleblowing policy and a strong “speak-up” culture is consistent with good governance and potentially helps detect, if not prevent, misconduct before it escalates.

• In some cases, facilitating a strong culture of communication and whistleblowing may prevent or detect hard to detect misconduct within a company.

• By preventing misconduct or making misconduct harder to sustain, companies with effective whistleblowing policies can arguably earn a greater return on assets. There are studies indicating that effective whistleblowing policies can make companies more profitable.^[14]

• By preventing misconduct or making misconduct harder to sustain, companies with effective whistleblowing policies can curtail lawsuits or mitigate damages, potentially resulting in lower business costs.

• Effective internal policies allow companies to address issues before they become public.

The webpage goes on to describe Best Practices for Effective Whistleblower policies under the following headings: Start with a clear policy

Offer a confidential process that allows for anonymity

Prioritize prevention, correction and accountability

Facilitate effective and transparent investigations

Protect whistleblowers from reprisal

Demonstrate commitment from leadership

Any whistleblowing policy must also be communicated to all members of the company through internal communications, education and periodic follow-up training to ensure everyone has an appropriate understanding of the policy and makes proper use of it.

I believe that we have many employees that may be aware of failed programs, policies, and procedures that are not being corrected, but are too afraid of the command and control atmosphere to speak up.

I believe that employees are our best source of potential efficiencies within the organization and need the ability to speak up without fear of reprisal.

Human Resource Services should be considered as the administrative home for the whistleblower policy and its oversight, subject to safeguards that ensure independence, confidentiality, impartial investigation, and direct reporting to the appropriate oversight body. The department has an annual budget of $4.6 million, including more than $900,000 for professional services, and 22 full-time-equivalent positions.

The City of Oshawa should promote an atmosphere of collaboration between staff, Council, and the resident stakeholders to make Oshawa the best that it can be. What is your opinion on a Whistleblower policy for the City of Oshawa?

Jeff Davis Candidate for Regional and City Councillor, Ward 4 Oshawa

September 13, 2026