Provincial police force worth a 'hard look,' says N.B. public safety minister
CBC
New Brunswick's minister of public safety says creating a provincial police force is worth a "hard look," though the loss of a federal subsidy for RCMP services could be costly.
Ted Flemming was asked by Liberal MLA Keith Chiasson about the possibility of a provincial force during a committee meeting in the legislature last week.
Flemming responded that it's a huge policy issue and it would be "irresponsible" to give a yes or no answer. However, he said it's good Chiasson raised it for discussion.
"It's something we should take a hard look at because it's on the mind of New Brunswickers," Flemming said. It wasn't clear what that "hard look" would mean.
If enacted, switching to a provincial force similar to the Ontario Provincial Police or Sûreté du Québec would be a major and potentially expensive change in how the province is policed. RCMP police most of the province through a 20-year contract with the New Brunswick government that expires in 2032.
"If that decision is made, there would have to be significant discussions with the federal government because the federal government pays for upward of a third of all RCMP services given to municipalities," Flemming said.
"So if we want to increase police capacity, it's hard to walk away from one third of the funding that's presently in place."
Flemming's comments follow mounting discussion at the municipal level about policing services. Daniel Allain, the province's minister of local governance reform, has said policing was the most frequent topic he heard during consultations with municipalities over the past year.
The province's white paper on local governance reform suggests over the long term, "the entire policing model will be reviewed to ensure its sustainability." A vote at the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick annual meeting in October called on the province to study policing services.
A statement from the Department of Public Safety, responsible for the RCMP contract, didn't say what Flemming's "hard look" would entail.
Spokesperson Geoffrey Downey said in the statement the province has heard from municipalities and "is open to working with them to examine opportunities to provide more adequate and sustainable policing services" in the province.
"The Department of Justice and Public Safety is working on policing reform initiatives to rethink how policing services and other agencies across the public safety continuum deliver public safety services while remaining responsive to changing demands and expectations," Downey said in the statement.
Flemming said the province will closely watch Alberta as that province studies whether to switch from RCMP policing rural areas to a provincial police force.
A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests Alberta would pay millions more for policing because of the loss of an annual $170 million subsidy from the federal government for RCMP.
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