Province moves ahead on new `independent' policing agency

The Alberta government is laying the groundwork for the creation of a new police agency while continuing to say that no decision has been made on establishing a provincial police service to replace the RCMP.

Bill 11 — the Public Safety Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 — was tabled in the legislature Wednesday and, if passed, would update legislation to form what the province terms “an independent agency police service” that will take on some of the roles the government has passed on to the Alberta Sheriffs in recent years.

It would also create a civilian oversight board for the new agency that the government says would operate similarly to local police commissions.

“When someone calls 911, I expect someone to show up to a call, regardless of the uniform that they wear,” said Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis. “We're trying to augment and support the current police services that we have here in the province.”

Ellis said the act is the first step toward creating the new agency and its oversight board, and that elements including the name of the agency as well as the cost and timeline of establishing it have yet to be determined.

“We're continuing to assess the situation,” he said, adding estimates for transition costs, operating expenses, training, equipment and governance are “in the works.”

“We just have to get this legislation through first.”

A 2021 government study by Pricewaterhousecooper that examined the possibility of a provincial police force to replace the RCMP pegged the cost at a minimum of $366 million for a transition that could take upward of six years.

Both Alberta Municipalities and Rural Municipalities of Alberta have spoken out against a provincial police service.

Ellis said Wednesday that the new agency was not designed to replace the RCMP.

“There's no decision that has been made in regards to an independent provincial police force for Alberta,” he said, but added, “we have to explore all options.”

Opposition justice and public safety critic Irfan Sabir didn't buy that explanation, describing the bill as “yet another broken promise.”

“Before the election, they said they're no longer pursuing this plan. During the election, they didn't talk about it. And, now that they're back in power, they're doing everything either they said they won't do, or didn't talk to Albertans about,” he said, listing as examples the province's ongoing push to leave the Canada Pension Plan and delay for a promised tax cut.

“This will not help us improve public safety.”

The RCMP'S contract to operate in Alberta is set to expire in March 2032, and Ellis said the government was increasing sheriff staffing should the Mounties choose to pull out of contract local policing.

Alberta's sheriffs have seen their role greatly increase from their foundation in the 1980s as court and prisoner security.

In February of last year the government deployed a dozen sheriffs to downtown Edmonton and Calgary as part of a pilot project to address crime and social disorder. Four months later, the pilot project was extended until the end of 2023.