Mayor Elizabeth Roy is warning Whitby residents about an anonymous flyer being delivered to homes around the community. The flyer makes claims about Town of Whitby Council decisions that are actually Durham Regional Council matters, according to a statement from the mayor on July 3, 2026.
The flyer comes from a group calling itself the Whitby Taxpayers Federation. Mayor Roy said the group has no publicly available information, and the website it lists on the flyer is connected to the national “Jail Not Bail” campaign.
“Many of the matters referenced relate to decisions made by Durham Regional Council, not Whitby Council, and are misleading, inaccurate or lacking context,” Mayor Roy said in her statement. The Town of Whitby shared the statement on its website.
The flyer directs people to a website linked to the Jail Not Bail campaign. That petition was started by Regional Councillor Chris Leahy. It asks the federal government to reverse a Parole Board decision about releasing an individual into Durham Region.
Leahy has announced he plans to run for mayor in the October 2026 municipal election. He was suspended without pay for one month in April 2026 after an Integrity Commissioner found he breached the Council Code of Conduct twice for disrespecting town staff.
This is not the first time the Whitby Taxpayers Federation has been involved in spreading misleading information. The group commissioned robocalls in November 2025 that made false claims about Mayor Roy and asked people if they would vote for her or Leahy in a mayoral race.
The current flyer appears to blame Whitby Council for decisions actually made at the regional level. For example, Durham Regional Council approved the 2026 budget and water and sewer rate increases, not Whitby Town Council. Durham Region also bought a property at 1635 Dundas Street East for $13.7 million for supportive housing, which falls under regional responsibility.
Mayor Roy and Councillor Victoria Bozinovski held a news conference in April 2026 to speak out about escalating harassment and misinformation in local politics. They noted that about $100,000 of town money has been spent this term investigating unfounded allegations against the mayor.
The mayor is asking residents to be careful before giving out personal information to anonymous groups or petitions. She encourages people to contact their elected representatives directly and use official town sources for accurate information.
