Alberta government funding $9.7 million to support proposed ‘Municipal Police Force’ in Grande Prairie

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“So the initial intent with lobbying the government was always to reduce tax impact to the local ratepayers, lobbying the government for these transition funds with the goal of not having an impact on ratepayers, So with this $9.7 million announcement we know that the first three years, we are covered during the transition if council decides to fund a municipal police force,” said Clayton.

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She added that even with this funding it still won’t influence council decision regarding the transition, but it does make her feel that a safer community is obtainable, with or without RCMP, as the provincial government is showing its commitment, to keep Albertans safe.

“I think council will have a conversation in regards to what the five-year transition will look like if we choose to do so, and at that time we will explore opportunities, but we are very optimistic that the province has indicated today (that) they are behind a safer Alberta and a safer City of Grande Prairie,.They are behind a service model that is more efficient and they are supporting it by showing the $9.7 million today.”

Minister Ellis discussed the repercussions saying he’s received “several calls” from municipalities asking about a municipal police force, while also hearing more questions from communities regarding an Alberta police force.

Clayton said she has received some calls from other municipal mayors, as she sits on the Mid-Sized Cities Mayor Caucus, but adds other municipalities and the provincial government’s decision on an Alberta force won’t affect City Council’s decision.

“We took the foresight and the initiative to undergo a service review. The Alberta policing conversation is part of it, however, that’s not the main reason we did this. At the end of the day, council sees a priority of a safe community, and with this support, we now know we have the options available to us.”

She adds receiving this funding for the proposed municipal police force grows the council’s confidence in having a safe community at a low cost for residents.

Toews will present the new provincial budget in the legislature on Tuesday. Budget 2023 will include this $9.7 million in funding.

Toews says “Albertans should expect to see a deep commitment to public safety.”

For more information regarding the proposed Municipal Police Force: click here.

Irfan Sabir, Alberta NDP Critic for Justice, made the following statement in response:

“The UCP has clearly failed on public safety. This is obvious to Albertans in the downtown cores of our major cities, and to residents who are seeing increasing gun violence on our streets.

“Instead of keeping Albertans safe, Danielle Smith is focused on imposing hundreds of millions of dollars of new costs onto struggling Alberta families to pay for a UCP provincial police force that nobody wants.

“Municipalities above a certain size are legally empowered to establish their own police services if they choose to do so. Some communities have studied this option and found it too expensive, and others have proceeded.

“An Alberta NDP government will scrap the UCP plan for a provincial police force, and focus our attention on keeping Albertans safe in their communities.”

“Yesterday, the Government of Alberta announced its promise to partially fund the creation of a local police service in Grande Prairie, subject to Budget 2023 passing in the provincial legislature, to the tune of $9.7 million over two years. This announcement comes the day after the City of Grande Prairie publicly released its City of Grande Prairie Policing Transition Final Report, written by MNP.” says a statement from the National Police Federation.

“In the report, Municipal Council has stated that they will decide on March 6, 2023 whether to or not to proceed with a transition away from the RCMP. Surprisingly, the Council signaled that it already intends to vote in favour of a transition even though the transition plan hasn’t been circulated among Grande Prairie residents. In fact, to date, just over 1 per cent of the population in Grande Prairie has been consulted about such a transition, which doesn’t appear very transparent or reflective of the broad will of its residents.

“While this decision will be one of the largest and most impactful decisions that the current council will make for the residents of Grande Prairie, there is actually no mechanism currently in place for residents to properly review, assess, and question their municipal government on the details contained in this 100+ page report in just under two weeks.

“The report suggests a need for $19M in transition costs, which the province says it will partially provide. Council’s decision, however, will have major financial implications for residents of the City of Grande Prairie as this report is not a feasibility study and does not investigate nor account for the full cost of such a transition. Some examples of cost concerns that were not considered include IT, officer training, equipment and resources, and recruitment.

“Residents of Grande Prairie need to be aware that there are still many unknowns regarding such a transition, and that they should expect that the final cost will be considerably higher than $19M.

“We have already seen low-ball transition costing promises before in cities like Surrey, BC, and the reality is that taxpayers end up shouldering a significantly higher amount for both startup and future annual operating costs. The lack of a feasibility study to examine all areas of concern and possible costs caused the City of Surrey to increase property taxes by 11 per cent to pay for the transition and future operating costs.

“In 2019, the City of Red Deer decided not to transition to a municipal police service due to the high cost to its taxpayers and lack of improvement on public safety.

“Our Members continue to be asked to do more with less when they are already overworked, stressed, and not fully resourced – instead of providing funding to this costly and arguably unnecessary local police service, the NPF recommends the Government of Alberta instead make much needed investments to bolster the RCMP in Alberta.”