St. Paul talks with Justice Minister about provincial policing in virtual call

The topic of establishing a provincial police force to replace the RCMP remains in the background as the current government sits in office, but the Mayor of St. Paul addressed her municipality’s concerns about the costs of policing in general before the new year. 

Mayor Maureen Miller told Lakeland Connect in December that a recent virtual meeting with Justice Minister Tyler Shandro was an opportunity to voice concerns, not only about a new force, but the cost of policing itself. 

So far, there has been widespread disapproval of severing from the RCMP from Alberta Municipalities. 

“We have an excellent rapport with our RCMP, we really do,” Miller told Lakeland Connect. “And so that is not our concern here, our concern is we cannot sustain. And so when the message is, it’s not going to cost you more, and where our message is – it has to cost loss.” 

As the Town went through its budget deliberations, they saw that $2.1M of its $17M budget is dedicated to RCMP costs. Miller said they receive a grant from the province, but it hasn’t moved in years as the RCMP costs have grown. 

“I’ve been in this position for five years. We do receive a grant from the government around our policing, we receive $487,000 against our $2.1 million – that number has not changed since I’ve been here,” said Miller. 

“We’ve gone from $1.4M, $1.7M, $2.1M, it’s huge. But the reimbursement hasn’t been on a slide. So if that’s the case, as a municipality, we have to somehow get greater supports. I can’t lean into our ratepayers for that conversation.”