Edmonton, AB — Following is a statement from Brian Sauvé, President of the National Police Federation, regarding the Government of Alberta’s release of referendum questions for the coming municipal election.
Earlier today the Government of Alberta announced referendum questions for the coming municipal election. They did not include the future of policing in Alberta as a topic, but instead indicated they will review a potential transition to a new provincial police service further.
We encourage the province to take this time to listen to Albertans and lay this unpopular and costly idea to rest.
The Government has already spent $2 million for a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Transitional Study that has not been publicly disclosed in addition to previous rounds of public engagement on the Fair Deal Panel. We know from recent public opinion research by Pollara Strategic Insights[1] that 81% of Albertans support the RCMP and only 8% support a proposed transition. Since our #KeepAlbertaRCMP campaign launched in February, Albertans have sent almost 40,000 letters to government asking to keep the RCMP and for more transparency.
We also call on Government to be more transparent on this issue, and to share the full costs and implications of a police transition by making the PwC Transitional Study, submitted three months ago, public. Currently, the federal government contributes more than $160 million to Alberta provincial policing annually, which would be transferred to taxpayers with a new Alberta provincial police service. Now is not the time for this significant tax increase, plus hundreds of millions of dollars in transition costs on the heels of COVID-19 and a challenged resource economy.
A police transition creates risks to community safety. Albertans would be far better served if these multi-millions of dollars were invested into expanding current police resources.
For more information: www.keepalbertarcmp.ca.
[1] Pollara Strategic Insights online and phone survey, May 2021, 1,228 Albertans, rural and urban, margin of error ±2.7%
About the National Police Federation:
The National Police Federation (NPF) was certified to represent ~20,000 RCMP Members serving across Canada and internationally in the summer of 2019. The NPF is the largest police labour relations organization in Canada; the second largest in North America and is the first independent national association to represent RCMP Members.
The NPF is focused on improving public safety in Canada by focusing on increasing resources, equipment, training, and other supports for our Members who have been under-funded for far too long. Better resourcing and supports for the RCMP will enhance community safety and livability in the communities we serve, large and small, across Canada.
For more information: https://npf-fpn.com/
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