LAKELAND - Shocked. That's how one Lakeland-area municipal councillor described Friday's announcement from provincial officials who say the push will continue to explore a provincial police force to replace the RCMP.
Lac La Biche County Deputy Mayor Lorin Tkachuk says that seeing Alberta's Justice Minister Kacee Madu pitch a new report on Friday highlighting opportunities of a new, provincially-controlled police force — after municipal officials from across the province already rejected the idea — was a head-scratcher.
"I was pretty sure we'd all heard that this was just going to go away," said Tkachuk Friday afternoon, just hours after Madu highlighted the findings of a provincial feasibility report into a provincial police force. Although the 100-page report doesn't specifically recommend the transition, Madu said a provincial police force would remedy what he called "structural problems" with the RCMP.
Whether a provincial police force would create financial problems, however, has been a big concern for municipal leaders since the idea was first presented by the Alberta government more than 18 months ago.
There are about 50 communities in the province with RCMP coverage. In Alberta, there are approximately 3,500 RCMP members in those communities. The RCMP service in Alberta costs the provincial government approximately $370 million a year with $119 million of that covered by a federal grant to the province. Municipalities with RCMP service that have populations under 15,000 pay for 70 per cent of their allotted share of those provincial costs. Communities over 15,000 pay 90 per cent of their allotted share of the costs.
While Madu continues to stress that a provincial police force would not cost Alberta municipalities any more than they already pay for RCMP contracts, municipal leaders continue to fear financial downloading will soon follow any change to service.
Madu easily admits to receiving letters from municipalities over the last year — but in his interpretation of those letters is that municipalities aren't rejecting the idea of a provincial police force, they are simply saying they support the RCMP.
"I have received letters — mostly of support for the RCMP. It's important that we really look at that appropriately. These are letters of support for the RCMP, for the men and women of law enforcement," Madu told Lakeland This Week on Friday afternoon during a news conference. "Those letters do not address the problems that are on the ground ... which are different from the problems on the ground that we need to solve."
Many of the letters sent to Madu's office, including letters from St. Paul County, the Town of Bonnyville and Lac La Biche County were formed from a similar template. In most cases, the letters contained direct opposition to the transition, as well as support for the RCMP.
This past May, then County of St. Paul Reeve Steve Upham penned a letter on behalf of his council stating absolute opposition to the transition plan.
"Cancel the transition study and increase the efforts to work with the RCMP in achieving better outcomes, " he wrote.
The letter went onto say that the costs to create a new police force would likely be borne by municipalities, and explanations by provincial officials about those costs have been "inadequately explained."
Upham's letter was used as a template in many municipalities across the province.
Six months after many of those letters were sent, the sentiment remains across municipalities in the province, says Tkachuk, who is involved in provincial and national crime and policing committees. He says many communities across Canada are also taking issue with provincial policing models.
"I sit on a few national levels boards," said Tkachuk referring to crime prevention and policing interests, "and you don't hear a lot of good about the provincial policing anywhere."
Tkachuk says organizations that represent urban and rural municipalities in the province, the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and the Rural Municipalities Association both question the transition to province police forces.
"Like I said, I'm absolutely shocked to hear (provincial government leaders) are still talking about this," he said.
Former Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi was also taken back by Madu's support of the report on Friday. Moghrabi, who signed the Lac La Biche County letter opposing changes to the provincial policing system in June of this year says the Justice minister is overlooking and ignoring the fact-based responses from municipalities.
Moghrabi went on to say that not only could a push towards a provincial police force hurt municipalities financially, it would remove the working relationships communities have with their local RCMP detachments. Moghrabi countered most of Madu's other comments about the benefits of a provincial force. The former mayor said just about every municipality in the province currently working with RCMP agreements disagree with Madu's claims.
"I'd say 99.9 per cent don't want it," he said.
According to a recent poll of 1,300 Albertans, issued by the National Police Federation, 81 per cent of respondents living in RCMP-policed communities are satisfied with current policing. The same report showed that 70 per cent are opposed to any recommendation to create provincial police service, and 77 per cent are concerned with costs associated with a transition. The poll also showed that 93 per cent of respondents want better information about overall costs of a new policing service.
Needed $350 million is 'seed money' says Madu
According to Madu and the latest report, although there would be no extra financial burdens to municipalities, it would cost an additional $350 million in initial startup funding for the new system — including a new training facility. Madu has not explained how the annual $119 million in federal funding would be recouped, and called transition expenses an "investment."
"There is always going to be that initial seed money. I think that is expected, that is part of government," he said, answering questions about specific funding with an over-arching pledge to represent Albertan to the best of his abilities."I, as Justice Minister, and this government will always pursue the best interests of Alberta and of its people in all of our decisions. Our ultimate goal will always be to build safer communities for all Albertans no matter where they live."
In a video statement released on Friday, the province's top RCMP officer Deputy Commander Curtis Zablocki commented on the report's findings.
More community consultations are planned in the coming months to further explore the report's findings on provincial policing. According to the report, if a provincial policing model were to be approved, it would be a six-year implementation. The province and federal government are currently within a signed 20-year partnership agreement for RCMP services signed in 2012 by then Premier Ed Stelmach. The agreement can be dissolved over a two-year period, if both parties consent.
Around the region
In Lac La Biche County, the municipality pays approximately $350,000 a year for two enhanced RCMP positions and two clerical office positions. Through a special agreement, the specialized municipality currently has no other expenses for RCMP policing services in the community.
The Town of St. Paul’s 2021 budget shows a policing grant of $447,700 on the revenue side and a policing contract of $1,594,075 on the expense side. They also provide funding for support staff at the RCMP detachment of $240,143.
The County of St. Paul faced a $250,364 bill for RCMP policing services this year, and by 2024 expects that cost to increase to over $500,000. Prior to 2020 municipalities under 5000 didn’t have to pay RCMP policing costs – it was covered by the province.
Although Town of Bonnyville council members have been publicly vocal about their opposition to the transition in recent months — including councillor Brian McEvoy who fully supported leaving the contract with the RCMP in comments made at a February 2021 council meeting — requests for comment this week were referred by McEvoy to newly-elected mayor Elisa Brosseau. She did not respond to call on Friday for an interview.
Senior administrators with the County of St. Paul also did not reply to interview requests in time for the first editorial deadline of this story.
