Western Standard - April 12, 2024


Alberta Government Grants Funding for RCMP Policing

Mentioned
Coldales Pass
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Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

143.65

Word count

629

Sentence count

31

Harmful content

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Coldale, Alberta is the only municipality in Canada that is required to pay 100% of the cost of the RCMP contract, and this despite numerous outreach attempts from the provincial government to fix this problem. Alberta s government is stepping up to provide Coldale with $550,000 in funding to cover local policing costs that the federal government is refusing to pay.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 This commitment includes empowering and supporting municipalities to make the best decisions to meet
00:00:05.200 their public safety and policing needs. It doesn't matter if you are in downtown Calgary or in rural
00:00:12.080 Alberta, regardless of where you live. Albertans deserve to feel safe in their daily lives,
00:00:17.600 and it's the top priority for this provincial government to ensure the safety and peace of
00:00:22.960 mind of all residents. When and where this is jeopardized, our government has a duty to act.
00:00:30.480 No one should be left wondering whether or not they can rely on a prompt law enforcement response
00:00:35.280 in their moment of need. When it comes to municipal policing, Coldales Pass embodies
00:00:40.400 the freedom of choice and the pursuit of innovation that we want for all communities to benefit from.
00:00:48.560 Flexibility is what our towns and rural municipalities need when considering and implementing local
00:00:54.240 policing solutions tailored to their unique needs. It's not something that they should be punished for.
00:01:00.960 Coldale originally had the RCMP policing contract and chose to move away with another contract service
00:01:08.160 provider in another agreement, and since then they have revived the policing agreement with the federal government in 2016.
00:01:15.680 However, Coldale is the only municipality in Canada, and let me say this again, they are the only
00:01:22.800 municipality in Canada that is required to pay 100% of the cost of the RCMP contract.
00:01:29.920 And this despite numerous outreach attempts from the provincial government, the town of Coldale.
00:01:37.280 For the federal government to fix this problem, Coldale rate payers have been saddled with more 0.99
00:01:43.680 than four million dollars in extra costs as a result. This is unacceptable and completely unfair.
00:01:51.200 Albertans deserve to feel safe and protected in their communities and deserve equal treatment when it comes
00:01:56.800 to police service funding. With no indication that Public Safety Canada is interested in resolving this
00:02:03.360 unfair singling out of small-town Alberta, we are taking action today. Alberta's government is stepping up
00:02:10.640 to provide Coldale with $550,000 in funding to cover local policing costs that the federal government is
00:02:19.040 refusing to pay. This will be an annual, predictable funding. Reliable and affordable policing services
00:02:27.920 are essential for rural communities. We recognize the extent and seriousness of crime in rural communities,
00:02:34.000 which is why we are committed to providing funding to Coldale for frontline law enforcement.
00:02:40.000 We won't stand idly by, while rural Albertans are unfairly made to shoulder the costs of essential
00:02:45.600 services, that similar communities across Canada engage for far less. This is just simply not fair.
00:02:53.520 The town of Coldale says this difficult situation is the result of a vindictive federal policy that is
00:03:00.960 effectively penalizing the residents for pursuing the policing solutions and decisions that they thought met
00:03:07.440 the needs of their community at the time. This has other municipalities fearful of even asking or
00:03:15.200 exploring other options that are on the table. But we know that a sustainable, equitable funding model
00:03:22.160 is needed to support public safety measures that protect all Albertans, no matter where they live.
00:03:27.680 Municipalities should be able to explore policing options without putting equitable funding at risk.
00:03:34.000 risk. As I have previously stated, I believe it is also another signal check from Public Safety Canada
00:03:41.280 that they may not wish to continue with contract policing services in Canada. With this supplemental
00:03:48.400 funding today, we're ensuring that the town of Coldale can continue to pay for the policing services
00:03:54.800 its residents currently rely on. We support and echo Coldale's call on the federal government to engage
00:04:02.320 and arrive at a reasonable resolution for this town. Today's announcement does not mean the discussions
00:04:07.680 are over. Our government will continue to press Ottawa to extend the federal policing subsidy to Coldale and to
00:04:14.240 ensure the fair treatment for all Alberta communities.