Rally held in Edmonton last week to oppose government’s proposal to replace RCMP with provincial police force
It could cost as much as $1.5 billion for the Alberta government to create its own police force to replace the RCMP in the province, said the leader of a rural association opposed to the initiative.
“I’ve talked to pollsters, I talked to folks that are political pundits, I talked to my members and nobody knows who’s asking for this,” said Paul McLauchlin, president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta. “We have no idea what the purpose of any of this is. No one else was asking for it from the public.”
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He renewed his call for the provincial government to hold a referendum to allow Albertans to vote on the initiative. Premier Danielle Smith’s intention to pursue plans to establish the provincial force was outlined in mandate letters Nov. 9 to Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis and Minister of Justice Tyler Shandro.
However, she did not mention the force during a speech Nov. 10 at the fall convention of the RMA in Edmonton. It was first proposed under former Premier Jason Kenney, who was replaced by Smith after she won the leadership race Oct. 6 for the governing United Conservative Party.
The provincial police force is meant to help fill in gaps in service for farmers and other rural residents to protect them against criminals, said then-Justice Minister Kaycee Madu in 2021. He said it has nothing to do with Alberta’s fight with the federal government over issues such as the oil and gas industry.
During the UCP’s annual general meeting in 2020, Kenney said the police force was part of a broader strategy to boost the province’s leverage with Ottawa over things such as equalization payments and the Trans-Mountain Pipeline through British Columbia.
A national union representing about 700 non-uniformed support staff at RCMP detachments across Alberta held a rally Nov. 17 opposing the creation of the provincial police force.
“I think the government is talking about getting away from the federal (government), and that they’re doing this as a political move,” said Valda Behrens, regional vice-president of the Union of Safety and Justice Employees.
The Keep the RCMP in Alberta event outside the RCMP’s K-Division headquarters in Edmonton was attended by about 70 people, she said. It included the prairie chapter of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
“There are just too many unanswered questions about the number of detachments that are going to be available if this goes forward, the costs involved, who’s going to cover the costs, all this kind of thing,” said Behrens. “We don’t feel it’s necessary to burn down the RCMP per se and start from scratch.”
McLauchlin said the cost of establishing a provincial force will likely include buying equipment such as police cruisers.
“But then you’ve got to do the math that the federal government won’t easily transfer infrastructure, so all those police (detachment) stations,” he said.
“We need to start a forensics lab. We need to have a training centre. I’ve talked to people that have really done some strong analysis and I would expect this to probably be about $1.5 billion.”
Alberta will also lose 30 percent of RCMP policing costs covered by Ottawa. Some rural municipalities could potentially face millions of dollars in increased expenses, said McLauchlin.
“The money is going to come from somewhere … and typically they’re looking at municipalities as a place to get the dollars. It’s just the reality.”
He said it will also be difficult to obtain officers for the provincial force.
“Minister Ellis is saying this will allow us to have more officers in rural Alberta. There are no officers to recruit.”
Behrens pointed to a recent decision by the mayor and council of Surrey, B.C., to stop the city’s transition to a new municipal police force.
“They want to go back to the RCMP because they can’t recruit what they need. How are we going to recruit for some place in northern Alberta where it’s a fly-in?”
The RCMP Training Academy (Depot) in Regina is being forced to combine classes because there currently aren’t enough people who see police work as a viable career, said McLauchlin.
“Vancouver is offering a $20,000 signing bonus and no one’s biting.”
He said if Alberta creates a provincial force, most RCMP officers will likely transfer to other parts of Canada to keep their pensions. He expected the retention rate will likely only be about 10 to 15 percent.
It means the provincial government will be forced to pay salaries that are at least equivalent if not higher than that of the RCMP, he said.
“So, any of the conversations around this that it will be cheaper are pretty much out the door.”
