National Police Federation – Alberta RCMP vs. a New Provincial Police Service Council was presented with information regarding the potential move away from RCMP to a new Police Service for the province of Alberta. The presentation provided valuable information to Council on the negative impacts moving away from the RCMP to a new Provincial Police Service would be. The National Police Federation (NPF) is the sole certified bargaining agent representing close to 20,000 Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) across Canada and internationally. The NPF is the largest police labour relations organization in Canada. The NPF’s mission is to provide strong, fair, and progressive representation to promote and enhance the rights of RCMP Members. A Fair Deal Panel (FDP) recommended the Government of Alberta investigate the possibility of creating a new provincial police service. The FDP’s polling and third-party polling shows that this issue is not a concern for the average Albertan. In fact, only eight per cent of respondents support an outright change, and the majority said replacing the RCMP was the least helpful measure proposed by the FDP to improve Alberta’s position in Canada. The NPF says that at a time when Alberta’s economy is hurting, and against the backdrop of COVID-19, creating a new provincial police service would waste hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars that could be better spent elsewhere. Currently, the federal government pays about 30% of Alberta’s RCMP policing costs – that is ~$160 million annually. If Alberta were to replace the RCMP, Alberta taxpayers and local communities would be on the hook for this $160 million, and the full cost of provincial policing, plus significant transition costs. Another survey showed that the large majority of Albertans support the RCMP. 87 per cent of survey respondents in rural south communities, 81 per cent in rural central, 78 percent in rural north and 81 per cent in Edmonton and 74 per cent in Calgary all support the RCMP. Following the presentation, Mayor Painter says the concerns presented to Council during the meeting are the same concerns Council has. "Additional costs to our residents as well as safety. I haven't seen anything in any of these plans or proposals where they would keep the same detachments. We do have a local RCMP detachment and moving forward with this new Alberta Police Force, there's no indication that we would keep the detachment in our community. I think that's very concerning considering our RCMP covers such a large area. We definitely need that representation. We are a major corridor into Alberta and along with that is all the things that travel into Alberta and some reasons why we need the RCMP here." Councillor Ward reiterated his concerns about costs and mentioned Council was proactive regarding this topic. "We have actually been proactive in this. We sent out a letter to the province, the solicitor general about two months ago and asked other municipalities to support that. I'm very concerned about the costs. 95 per cent of our tax increase this year is going to pay for policing that we are not receiving so we have no interest in spending even more money." Anyone who would like more information can visit keepalbertarcmp.ca or look up Keep Alberta RCMP on Facebook.