PJ The Belt - February 27, 2026


Alberta Just Built Its OWN Police — Independence Vote Is Next


Episode Stats

Length

12 minutes

Words per Minute

167.8219

Word Count

2,058

Sentence Count

96

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Bill 15, the Public Safety and Emergency Statutes Amendment Act 2026.
00:00:04.020 Alberta's legislature session kicked off Tuesday
00:00:07.060 with another step toward replacing the RCMP with sheriffs.
00:00:11.720 All 1,200 government employees will now be transferred
00:00:15.460 to the new Crown Corporation called Alberta Sheriff's Police Service.
00:00:21.060 Alberta RCMP is at the forefront of some of the biggest stories in policing and crime,
00:00:25.980 but the future of the RCMP in the province is in limbo.
00:00:28.720 The Alberta government is exploring the possibility of a provincial police force
00:00:33.200 when the RCMP contracts expire.
00:00:38.500 Alberta is moving ahead with a plan to transition hundreds of sheriffs into police officers.
00:00:44.120 New legislation is the latest step in creating a provincial police service,
00:00:47.900 but it's still a plan with few details,
00:00:50.380 and we won't know the cost until Thursday's tough budget.
00:00:53.760 Jordan Canagan reports.
00:00:54.860 A provincial plan to get more officers on the streets
00:00:58.620 is to train Alberta sheriffs to do the job.
00:01:02.360 This bill creates a practical path for the eligible sheriffs
00:01:06.540 to pursue police officer roles within the ASPS.
00:01:09.840 The province says about 600 sheriffs could go through six weeks of training
00:01:14.300 to move from a peace officer to a police officer.
00:01:17.840 So those would be your scan teams, your highway patrol teams,
00:01:22.420 your surveillance teams, your fugitive apprehension teams.
00:01:25.300 The minister says the Alberta Sheriff's Police Service will work alongside municipal police
00:01:30.680 and RCMP, not replace them, at least for now.
00:01:34.980 A final decision on whether to move away from the RCMP in Alberta will come in the future.
00:01:39.960 Albertans are tired of feeling like the deck seems to be stacked against them.
00:01:44.900 They don't want excuses, and they certainly don't want governments
00:01:49.480 that just react after the damage is already done.
00:01:53.240 They want us to stay ahead of the criminals, and they want results.
00:01:57.240 The commitments and promises are, quite frankly, simple.
00:02:00.660 This government will do whatever it takes to put boots on the ground
00:02:03.180 to keep communities safe.
00:02:05.320 Today, we're taking another important step towards delivering on that promise.
00:02:10.200 This afternoon, I'm going to be tabling Bill 15.
00:02:12.440 This is the Public Safety Emergency Services Statute Amendment Act 2026,
00:02:16.720 legislation that supports the continued development
00:02:19.240 of the Alberta Sheriff's Police Service, or some call it the ASPS.
00:02:23.600 Last year, we formally established the Crown Corporation for the ASPS
00:02:27.700 to augment and support all police services in the province.
00:02:30.520 And from the beginning, our goal has been to strengthen public safety
00:02:34.040 and give municipalities more options to meet their policing needs.
00:02:36.800 Bill 15 is the next step in that evolution of the ASPS
00:02:41.100 and a foundational step in aligning people, expertise, and operations under the ASPS.
00:02:47.880 For decades, our sheriffs have been the part of the landscape of community safety,
00:02:54.120 doing everything from high-speed traffic enforcement to specialized surveillance.
00:02:58.580 They're highly skilled, they're dedicated, and quite frankly,
00:03:02.360 they've been doing the police-like functions, and this work for a long time.
00:03:07.560 It creates a very common-sense line-of-sight transition for the sheriff peace officers
00:03:13.120 to move into the police officer functions under the ASPS.
00:03:16.860 If the bill is passed, the legislation would allow for the formal transition
00:03:20.860 of the Alberta Sheriff's Branch into the ASPS,
00:03:24.080 and it would also allow the sheriff peace officers and civilian staff
00:03:27.620 to become ASPS employees without any disruption to public safety or day-to-day operations.
00:03:33.280 So, let me be very clear.
00:03:34.920 This bill creates a practical path for the eligible sheriffs
00:03:38.920 to pursue police officer roles within the ASPS,
00:03:42.140 and this is a major milestone in building the new service.
00:03:45.920 Bill 15 gives sheriffs the opportunity to pursue training,
00:03:48.740 to become ASPS police officers subject to the required training,
00:03:52.760 recruitment, and qualification standards,
00:03:54.940 and others would continue in their current peace officer roles,
00:03:59.020 ensuring full operational capacity is maintained throughout the transition.
00:04:02.860 This approach allows the ASPS to recruit and train new police officers
00:04:06.400 while maintaining uninterrupted public service,
00:04:09.380 and it's about reducing unnecessary red tape
00:04:12.260 and making better use of the experience that we all have.
00:04:16.500 Of course, as I have stated before,
00:04:18.740 money has been set aside for the Alberta Sheriff's,
00:04:20.760 which will be transferred into the Crown Corporation.
00:04:23.880 When it comes to training,
00:04:25.440 rather than asking hundreds of skilled sheriffs to reapply
00:04:29.960 or to start from scratch,
00:04:32.180 this legislation will provide a stable and common-sense pathway
00:04:35.240 into the new police service.
00:04:37.340 The reality is that many sheriffs
00:04:39.100 are already performing police-like duties every single day,
00:04:42.880 supporting communities right across the province,
00:04:44.660 and they bring extensive front-line experience
00:04:47.280 and proven leadership that Albertans already rely on.
00:04:51.300 This legislation would allow the ASPS to benefit from the experience
00:04:55.040 immediately, without gaps or delays or disruption in public safety.
00:05:00.640 The sheriffs are going to continue to serve their communities,
00:05:03.620 enforce the law,
00:05:04.920 and support public safety just as they do today.
00:05:07.900 And for those who want to advance their careers,
00:05:11.880 this legislation would create a clear pathway
00:05:13.720 to becoming fully authorized ASPS police officers
00:05:17.480 with the appropriate training, authority,
00:05:20.300 and accountability under the Police Act.
00:05:22.920 Over time, this will mean faster response times
00:05:25.720 as we augment and support all police services,
00:05:28.500 stronger coordination with police of jurisdiction,
00:05:31.200 and more strategic deployment of police resources.
00:05:34.220 The result is safer communities for Albertans
00:05:37.440 and a greater confidence in public safety
00:05:39.580 right across the province.
00:05:41.380 As the ASPS continues to mature,
00:05:43.920 it will also provide municipalities with more flexibility
00:05:46.260 and more choice in how to meet their local policing needs
00:05:49.940 and also to ensure that sheriffs can continue
00:05:52.500 doing their jobs effectively.
00:05:54.760 We're also making targeted amendments
00:05:56.240 to the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act.
00:05:59.180 Our specialized sheriff units are already out there right now,
00:06:02.540 shutting down problem properties,
00:06:04.860 targeting fugitives that are avoiding accountability,
00:06:07.980 and these amendments ensure
00:06:09.000 that those teams don't miss a single beat.
00:06:11.520 They're doing a fantastic job out there.
00:06:13.180 They're going to continue to shut down crime
00:06:14.840 where it lives seamlessly as part of the ASPS.
00:06:18.560 This isn't about creating more government.
00:06:20.780 It's about creating more safety.
00:06:23.140 It's about faster response times, better coordination,
00:06:25.280 and, of course, putting more police officers on the streets
00:06:28.140 to deter those who think that they can break the law with impunity.
00:06:31.240 The legislation of past reflects the advice and expertise
00:06:35.760 of law enforcement leaders and the Alberta sheriffs themselves
00:06:38.200 because unnecessary red tape provides stability for staff
00:06:42.440 and, above all, strengthens public safety.
00:06:44.600 It moves Alberta closer to a modern, coordinated,
00:06:47.420 and community-focused police service,
00:06:49.280 one that meets today's needs.
00:06:51.340 And, of course, there is always more work that needs to get done.
00:06:55.380 The head of the ASPS is going to continue to build its leadership team.
00:06:59.020 It's going to develop training programs and recruit police officers.
00:07:02.480 But today's legislation represents a very meaningful and practical step
00:07:05.840 towards a safer, stronger Alberta.
00:07:08.180 And with that, I will take questions. Thank you.
00:07:10.120 Okay.
00:07:10.420 How many Alberta police service members will receive additional training
00:07:15.580 to perform police-like functions?
00:07:18.540 And what does this high-tier training entail?
00:07:21.620 So we've identified of the roughly 1,200 or so Alberta sheriffs,
00:07:27.700 there are approximately 600 of them have been ones
00:07:30.080 that have been performing the police-like functions.
00:07:32.280 So those would be your scan teams, your highway patrol teams,
00:07:36.520 your surveillance teams, your fugitive apprehension teams,
00:07:39.240 just to, I think I named almost all of them.
00:07:42.720 So those folks are already doing what we would call police-like functions.
00:07:45.920 Now, there are, again, the team led by Chief Barhar are identifying those folks.
00:07:52.680 We do have people that, for example, are former EPS or CPS members,
00:07:57.760 just as an example.
00:07:59.540 Those people are already trained police officers.
00:08:01.840 There are obviously a couple small qualifications that would need to be made.
00:08:05.580 But that transition is relatively simple for them.
00:08:08.260 There are people that have been or are very highly trained
00:08:12.960 that have worked in the Alberta sheriffs that are, for example,
00:08:16.380 doing the highway patrol, which, for those of you who do not know,
00:08:18.780 is probably one of the most dangerous things that somebody could do as a police officer.
00:08:22.760 It's known as an unknown threat because you just don't know
00:08:25.980 what you're getting yourself into on every traffic stop, quite frankly.
00:08:28.920 And so those people are very highly skilled and highly trained.
00:08:31.800 What we have determined or what we're figuring out,
00:08:34.380 I'm trying to reduce this working with Chief Barhar,
00:08:36.940 but we figure that there's about a gap of about six weeks' worth of training
00:08:41.360 that those folks would need to do in order to meet the necessary qualifications
00:08:46.420 under the Police Act to become fully empowered police officers.
00:08:51.100 Did you have a follow-up?
00:08:52.080 Yeah.
00:08:52.480 So the cost, we've been waiting to hear an overall cost for this transition.
00:08:56.600 If you've got to repaint all the decals on the vans,
00:08:59.580 if you've got to do six weeks of training with 600 members,
00:09:03.060 I mean, that's not free.
00:09:04.180 What's your ballpark?
00:09:04.960 Well, look, we have a budget that's going to be coming out here in the next couple of days.
00:09:10.380 I can tell you, as I know you've attended almost all of these press conferences,
00:09:14.580 we have the Alberta Sheriff's Branch that has a budget,
00:09:19.660 that budget, which is what this bill is essentially doing right now.
00:09:24.280 It lifts the people, it lifts the money that is within the Alberta Sheriff's Branch,
00:09:30.860 and moves it into the Crown Corporation that we built during the last session.
00:09:35.380 Of course, you know, people that are going to be doing police officer jobs,
00:09:42.400 and this is no secret, I have said this to you and I've said this to others before,
00:09:45.860 equal pay for equal work.
00:09:47.880 I don't know why anyone would be opposed to that.
00:09:50.680 And those people who will become police officers will be paid at the same level as a police officer.
00:09:57.160 Sure, there's going to be an increased cost in that,
00:10:01.080 and we have factored that in to those increases,
00:10:05.440 but that is something that will be coming out in the upcoming budget.
00:10:08.240 Sean Amato with City News.
00:10:09.660 So is Alberta fully committed to moving away from the RCMP now,
00:10:12.720 or when does that decision have to be made?
00:10:14.660 Well, we are fully committed right now to augmenting and supporting,
00:10:19.560 and that hasn't changed, all police services.
00:10:21.460 You would have seen this only a couple weeks ago in the city of Calgary,
00:10:24.740 where the Calgary Police Service had an operation
00:10:29.540 where they were dealing with social and civil disorder in downtown Calgary,
00:10:32.640 and they utilized the Alberta sheriffs.
00:10:34.800 And the good news is that once we transitioned many of these folks
00:10:38.240 into becoming police officers,
00:10:39.960 here's a bit of the difference here,
00:10:41.820 is that those police officers will be able to act
00:10:46.220 without having their hands held by the local police of jurisdiction,
00:10:51.020 if that makes any sense, right?
00:10:52.180 So right now, you have police officers that have to work with the police officers,
00:10:55.840 and then when they become police officers,
00:10:59.080 the sheriffs become police officers,
00:11:00.800 they won't need, we'll call it a chaperone,
00:11:03.300 by a Calgary Edmonton police officer.
00:11:06.140 Now, in regards to the other part of your question there,
00:11:10.200 look, we're still continuing to evaluate
00:11:13.440 what is the best option for the people of Alberta.
00:11:17.440 I know that the federal government has committed to some of the provinces
00:11:23.940 who have been very clear that they want to maintain the contract services of the RCMP.
00:11:29.500 However, what the federal government has not committed to
00:11:32.260 is what that funding model is going to look like.
00:11:34.180 And nobody has really been talking about that,
00:11:35.580 and that's a very, very important question that has to be had.
00:11:37.900 The RCMP still face the challenges when it comes to authorized strength levels.
00:11:42.400 And I don't think we can ignore that.
00:11:43.760 And this is not, again, something that is exclusive to the people of Alberta,
00:11:48.080 B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, all the way down east as well.
00:11:52.320 There are authorized strength levels.
00:11:54.020 So this is not, this is as simple as just, again,
00:11:56.620 writing a check and crossing your fingers
00:11:59.640 and hoping you're getting police officers here.
00:12:01.240 What we are doing here is, again,
00:12:03.080 when we talk about augmenting and supporting police services,
00:12:05.520 is this is the fastest path to get at least 600 or so police officers
00:12:10.240 on the streets of Alberta trying to assist all police of jurisdiction
00:12:14.520 in calls to service right now.