Medicine Hat has been trying to build a better mousetrap for reporting wrongdoing at city hall and council just decided the current draft still needs work.
At Monday's public meeting, council voted unanimously to send a newly drafted whistleblower policy back to staff for revisions, with a revised version expected to return on April 20. The decision wasn't a rejection of the policy itself every councillor agreed the concept is worth getting right. The debate was about whether the current draft actually does that.
How This Started
The push for an updated policy dates back to October 2025, when then-councillor Shila Sharps brought a motion to council in the final meeting before the municipal election. Sharps argued the city's existing whistleblower policy which only applied to city employees and was managed internally wasn't enough. She wanted the city to go further: open reporting to the public, add anonymous third-party disclosure, and put real teeth into anti-retaliation protections.
Council agreed. Staff were directed to draft something new.
What the New Policy Would Do
The proposed policy goes significantly beyond what's currently in place. Where the old policy only covered city employees reporting internally, the new version would extend eligibility to contractors, suppliers, and members of the general public. Reports would flow through an independent third-party system rather than staying inside city administration.
The language is also being updated to align with how whistleblower legislation reads elsewhere in Canada swapping terms like "complaint" and "misconduct" for "report" and "wrongdoing," and replacing "reprisal" with "retaliation."
The new policy would also fold in the city's existing fraud policy, since the two are closely aligned enough that maintaining them separately no longer makes sense. Oversight would sit with the city's audit committee, which already handles internal controls, fraud, and risk management.
Approving the policy would also require a $100,000 budget amendment drawn from operating reserves to fund third-party investigations though staff noted that figure is an estimate and could go higher.
Where Council Pushed Back
The unanimous vote to send it back wasn't about opposition it was about precision. Mayor Linnsie Clark flagged concerns with a section dealing with situations where a whistleblower report could overlap with a police investigation or a proceeding by another government body. In those cases, the policy would allow the city to pause or end an internal investigation to avoid interference.
Clark's concern was that average residents wouldn't necessarily recognize when their report had crossed into that territory and might not understand why action appeared to stall.
She also asked staff to build in a mechanism ensuring reports flow directly to council, rather than stopping at the administrative level.
Other councillors backed her up. Coun. Stuart Young said the policy's purpose is to give people with evidence of wrongdoing the clearest and safest path to bring it forward and that's only worth doing if the policy is airtight. Coun. Dan Reynish called it one of the more important items Medicine Hat council would deal with this term.
The revised policy returns April 20.
Urban Hens Bumped
A presentation on backyard hens in Medicine Hat a topic residents have been raising since 2015 and which came back before a city committee in September 2025 was bumped from Monday's agenda due to a late-added item. Staff had prepared three options for council: a new standalone bylaw, an amendment to the existing Responsible Animal Ownership Bylaw, or no program at all. That discussion will be rescheduled.
Sources:
City of Medicine Hat Council Highlights, February 17, 2026 — medicinehat.ca
City of Medicine Hat Council Agendas and Minutes — medicinehat.ca/AgendasMinutes
City of Medicine Hat YouTube (council meeting recording) — youtube.com/citymedicinehat
