Fractious finance committee meeting reveals doubts over Winnipeg police oversight
CBC
A tense discussion at the city's finance committee revealed deep confusion among council members and the Winnipeg Police Board about who has authority over the city's police force.
The discussion was over a request to approve millions of dollars in extra policing costs. The committee eventually voted three to one to approve up to $7.3 million in over-expenditures for the 2021 budget. To get there, councillors argued among themselves and with police board members about who has the authority to scrutinize the expenses of the Winnipeg Police Service.
"I think that this meeting will go down as the moment when we ceased to have civilian oversight on the Winnipeg Police Service," said Coun. Sherri Rollins.
Rollins made a motion in October asking the Winnipeg Police Service to present options in order to find $5.7 million in savings by the end of the year.
She also cast the lone vote against approving the funding.
On Friday, WPS Chief Danny Smyth, along with board chair Coun. Markus Chambers and secretary Shauna Curtin, appeared before the committee to say they had looked at all options and found there were none that would not jeopardize the police service.
"It's almost the end of the year. The funds are expended," said Curtin, who said that the police service was not mandated to respond to the committee's request for options.
Committee members Rollins and Coun. John Orlikow questioned why the police board was there, responding to questions that had been posed directly to the police service.
"I don't even know who I'm talking to," said Orlikow.
"It's showing the public how confusing the relationship we have — through the Winnipeg Police Board and the Winnipeg Police Service. Are we just a cheque-writing machine or what other roles do we have?"
Chambers said the board has the authority to review budgetary matters relating to the police service, as well as the impacts budget cuts have on the service.
"So the assertion that there has to be additional oversight, I believe, impugns the integrity of the Winnipeg Police Board, who is duly charged with assessing the risks that are brought forward to us based on budgetary pressures," he said.
Given the fact that 86 per cent of the police budget consists of salaries which are largely covered by collective agreements, there was limited room for additional cuts within this fiscal year, Curtin said.
Rollins made two motions at the meeting.
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.