By Matthew Bains

NORTHEAST REGION – Municipalities in British Columbia want the senior levels of government to share more of the cost of RCMP police services, and would like more accountability from the federal police force to local governments.

The current contracts that define the roles and responsibilities of all three levels of government in funding and overseeing the RCMP are set to expire on March 31, 2012. The process of negotiations to renew those contracts has begun between the federal government and the provincial/territorial governments. 

In a compromise reached between the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) and the provincial government, local governments will have a representative that will advise the province’s contract renewal team. A local government working group (LGWG) of 11 representatives has been established to gather information from municipalities on the terms they’d like to see in the negotiations. A day-long session at the UBCM conference this fall will give local governments an opportunity to come to a consensus on what those terms should be.

Jim Chute, CAO for the City of Dawson Creek, and Fred Banham, CAO for the Peace River Regional District, are the representatives of the Peace Region on that working group. Chute said while the advisory role for municipalities is a step in the right direction, he’s concerned that the interests of the province will ultimately trump any concerns from local governments. 

“That is the problem, that wherever our interests as municipalities are different from the provincial interests, the provincial interests will rule,” said Chute. 

He added the provincial government may not be willing to take a hard stance with the federal government in negotiations because policing is just not as big of an issue for the province as it is for municipalities, and the province benefits from a good working relationship with Ottawa on other issues like health care and education.

Currently in British Columbia, municipalities with populations of 15,000 or more pay 90 per cent of their RCMP costs, while municipalities between 5,000 and 15,000 pay 70 per cent, with the respective balances being paid by the federal government. In towns under 5,000 people and rural areas, local governments and the province each pays 35 per cent of RCMP costs, while the federal government pays 30.  

Chute said policing is the largest single item on the annual budget for most municipalities in the province – as much as 32 per cent of the budget in Dawson Creek. He said it is not really an issue about which level of government pays for what, since it all comes from the same taxpayer in the end, but it’s about the local government’s ability to pay. He said local governments can only raise so much money for policing costs through property taxes, which don’t reflect a taxpayer’s income, ability to pay, or the level of service needed in a particular community.

“Our issue is that property tax is not really the best way to pay for policing,” he said. “Our argument is really that the right tax should be paying for some of this policing, which means it has to be the province or the feds, unless they would like to give us access to income tax or [provincial sales tax].”

He said it is unlikely, however, that senior levels of government would agree to any terms that would mean more of the cost would be borne by them.

Chute added RCMP costs continue to rise more than the rate of inflation or population growth would require. He said local governments want more accountability for those costs, because they have no bargaining power as it stands. 

“We’re not in charge of the factors that increase costs,” he said. “We have this situation where costs are not determined by us but our taxpayers must pay for them. There ought to be a requirement to negotiate cost increases, and if you can’t agree, there ought to be an independent tribunal that makes the decision.”

Chute said they’re also looking for more operational accountability from the RCMP, in terms of setting strategic priorities and being informed of public complaints against local officers or detachments. He said that wouldn’t have to mean that local governments would interfere in RCMP operations, but it could resemble the monthly reporting to council that the staff sergeant in Dawson Creek does voluntarily.

He said the consequence of failed negotiations could mean that larger municipalities like Surrey, which pays for nearly half of the RCMP officers in the province, might move towards their own police force like in Toronto or Vancouver.

“I’m not sure if the RCMP would be viable,” he said. “Certainly in British Columbia they wouldn’t be viable, but I don’t know if nationally they would be viable. You would all of a sudden take a quarter of the RCMP members total in Canada and they’d be out of work, and I don’t know if they can sustain their national systems if that happened.”   

He said while that may be an option for Surrey and other larger centres, in Dawson Creek it would be “an extremely expensive option,” although he said it has been done in places like Nelson, BC. Chute thinks Canada should have a national police force, but there needs to be the financial security in place for municipalities to keep that force viable.

Kevin Begg, assistant deputy minister for policing and community safety with the Government of British Columbia, was selected to chair the Provincial/Territorial Contract Advisory Committee (P/TCAC), which represents those provinces and territories that have RCMP contracts for police services in the negotiations. Begg said the provinces and territories also believe that issues around cost containment and operational and financial accountability need to be addressed. He said that cost-sharing formula is still on the table as well, but cautioned that any changes, could result in the federal government downloading more of its responsibilities for policing onto municipalities. 

As for the provincial government sharing more of the cost, Begg said his government already funds many of the police services that benefit municipalities, including all DNA and biological casework, dealing with organized crime, and special investigators and other officers that deal with regional or provincial crime. He added all traffic fine revenues collected by the province, more than $60 million annually, are distributed to municipalities.

“We have, very definitively, recognized the need for helping to support policing in local communities,” said Begg.

He said it’s not true that the province would take a soft stance to negotiations, or be influenced by other issues with the federal government.

“We are certainly working to get the very best deal that we can get, with as much control over our destiny as we can get, and none of that is mitigated in any way by other discussions that have gone on,” he said. “I haven’t had anyone suggest to me in any way that we should soften our stance on policing issues.”

The federal Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan, could not be reached for comment before press time.