It Ain’t Easy, but its worth doing.

The process to election is fraught with setbacks.

Incumbents have a huge benefit with name recognition.

Incumbents have an inside track to fundraising.

Incumbents benefit from shorter sign advertising by-laws.

Incumbents have ‘inside information’ from closed reports, tight relationships with staff, developer contacts.

But those are just the obvious things.

My latest challenges:

Website updates.

After successfully relaunching my web domain and website, I proceeded to transfer the ‘ownership’ from one of my email accounts to another. I followed all the steps, received the confirmation of transfer, and was then locked out of my website. Unable to complete updates or changes, I headed down that road of automated help chats, FAQ statements, help blogs, and eventually sending documentation to prove my identity.

Yesterday I finally broke the system and got the chat bot to connect me to a live service rep. Carlos was amazing, first he listened to my problem, then he did quick research, found the ‘glitch’, and told me how to access the account that I already owned. I am now able to log into the backend of my website, create changes and new content, access subscriber lists, and hopefully move forward in a positive manner.

Banking challenges.

Election rules are pretty specific about bank accounts and finances. I started the process to open my official election account way back in June. The major Canadian bank that I attended was slightly confused about what an election account was (it’s a special form of a business account) but quickly decided I needed to speak to a specialist off-site. They arranged a phone consultation, and I was connected that evening to a wonderfully talented representative that knew exactly what I needed.

While she was extremely knowledgeable and professional, the electronic portal was not exactly user friendly. Some documents needed to be uploaded multiple times, some simply went into the universe, and apparently my skills with a phone camera weren’t all that great. But we persevered. Until I went on a short vacation that took me beyond cell and internet coverage, and we lost some communication.

I reconnected with the banking specialist and we quickly corrected and updated the required information and I was assured my application was complete and headed to the analyst who would ‘expedite’ my account application. 10 days later, no contact from the analyst or bank. I circled back to the business specialist who was away on vacation. Like a true professional, she emailed the analyst while she was on vacation!! I waited patiently before I finally contacted the customer service department for an update. I was assured all the necessary paperwork was attached to the file and the analyst would return my call within 24 hours. Another week, another phone call, another promise, and no follow through…

Anyone that knows me, knows I hate bureaucracy that doesn’t produce results. I contacted customer service again, was told the analyst was on a phone call, and they promised a return call within 20 minutes. More than enough time to email the supervisor, express my sincere thanks for the initial business manager’s professionalism, and explain how their ‘system’ is failing her great efforts. Well beyond the promised 20 minutes, and nearly an hour after my email, I got that promised phone call from the analyst. Meek, helpful, claiming a document was missing, which I sent him before the call even ended, but no explanation of why my application has sat on his desk for 17 days… And then the response from the supervisor thanking me for my email and acknowledging they had not met their service level and she would personally be watching the progress on my application.

Today my bank account is FINALLY active, though I have to meet at the branch tomorrow to receive a convenience card and activate it. I can no accept those much appreciated donations to my campaign!

I can now also spend money on my campaign in compliance to the Municipal Election Act.

What have I learned?

These issues with customer service remind me of the complaints and concerns I hear from residents when dealing with the City of Oshawa.

The City is a service organization.

Their role is to ‘serve’ the citizens of Oshawa.

However, the City administration, with approval from Council, sets policies, procedures, and acceptable service standards.

Service Oshawa was launched in 2008 in an attempt to create efficiency within City Hall, to log and direct resident concerns to the proper authority for resolution. According to the City website, and recently confirmed in email from the CAO, the service standard for a response is ‘within a reasonable time period’.

I, and many residents, can identify concerns and complaints that have never been responded to let alone resolved.

There is a breakdown in the process and a total lack of accountability for failed responses. Even when reaching out to a ‘higher authority’ (in my case, the CAO), the only response is to contact Service Oshawa and continue the cycle.

We have very dedicated and knowledgeable staff at the City of Oshawa. Unfortunately they often find their hands tied by bureaucratic policies and procedures that greatly limit their effectiveness. Some days this appears to be by design, other days it is simply failure to update the policies and procedures to stay abreast of changing times, known or identified deficiencies, or simple silo think. Often it appears they have lost touch with their true directive, to serve the citizens.

As an elected Councillor, my job is to provide oversight and direction to staff. In some cases, legislation explicitly limit a Councillor from direct involvement in some areas of concern. They can however make recommendations and motions to change the policies and procedures that staff act upon.

And this is one of the things I excel at. Policy, procedure, analyze the processes.

What I bring to the table:

I spent about 2 years as a private Health and Safety consultant for an emerging heavy equipment manufacturer. Their explosive growth over a short time had left them vulnerable to undocumented processes. A Ministry of Labour inspection had identified discrepancies that might have shut down a smaller, less focused business.

Within the first 30 days, I was able to document the deficiencies and build a plan for resolution. It took a lot of cooperation and discussion with key individuals, from the company owner to the workers on the floor. They all had one goal – sustainability in business that ensured their jobs and livelihoods and were quick to accept that I was there to help achieve that.

My budget was limited to what I could produce in terms of identifiable action. Every expenditure required the owner’s approval, based on the measurable results.

By month two, we had set up a joint health and safety committee (JHSC), developed terms of references, roles and responsibilities, identified training needs, and started on a company wide Health and Safety policy. I had also stepped in to assist HR with WSIB claims management. We created a theme of disclosure, meeting with injured workers to explain our roles and expectations, working together to get them back to work, safely, and making improvements to ensure their safety going forward.

By month three, I was meeting with individual foremen and their crews, learning about their jobs, tasks, concerns, and building out policy and procedure to ensure safety and productivity. Every policy and procedure had to have management buy-in and be signed off by the company owner and CEO.

The JHSC was meeting monthly and investigating concerns through a ‘complaint process’ that ensured each concern was properly addressed. Posted minutes ensured that efforts were known and progress was being made.

Suddenly I was being presented with Corporate Policy for review and we started building a corporate policy manual including distribution policies and regular policy review dates.

Necessary training through the JHSC was scheduled and proceeding. Workplace accidents and incidents were declining. WSIB files were being successfully managed, limiting costs, returning employees safely to their jobs, reinstating full wages. Production increased.

Over time, I presented an equipment daily inspection procedure and logbook, and appropriate training and procedure manuals that covered the various departments and specific work environments. Every piece of equipment had a log book and inspection record for every day of operation. Considerable time, effort, and money went into equipment safety guards, instruction, training and maintaining a safe and productive workplace.

While I was adequately compensated for my work, I received great personal satisfaction in seeing positive changes that benefited the workers and company alike. We were becoming more of a family as everyone came together to work cooperatively on a common good. The overall atmosphere and moral improved with fewer adversarial situations.

Eventually I represented the company in the Courts to respond to the original MOL investigation and follow up. The company allowed me to present a case that accepted responsibility for past failures and outlined the positive improvements that had taken place, including data that proved results of our efforts to improve working conditions and health and safety.

I am proud every time I see a piece of their equipment go down the road to a customer, or see it on site, at a trade show, or in a construction news article. A little piece of me is in the continued success of this company, their resilience and their sustainability.

How I will succeed to serve you:

As your elected Regional and City Councillor for Ward 4, I plan to use this same approach to build rapport with staff to investigate, change, and implement better policies, procedures and by-laws that unlock the talent of our staff to serve the people of Oshawa to the absolute best of their abilities.

This is the kind of change we need and deserve in Oshawa. Understanding of the issues, focused on the results.

I am Jeff Davis, your candidate for Regional and City Councillor, Ward 4 Oshawa.

August 18, 2026