The Alberta NDP is demanding the UCP government scrap its costly plan to replace the RCMP, a plan that many municipalities, including Red Deer, have opposed.
The City of Red Deer, which conducted its own study on a municipal police force, found it would cost millions more per year to replace the RCMP.
The NDP said under the UCP's provincial police plan, property taxes for a family of four in Red Deer would soar by $2,486 more per year, and it would cost individual residents $621 more per year.
"In March, the UCP laid the groundwork for their self-serving plan to create an Alberta provincial police force by amending the public safety statutes," said Alberta NDP Critic for Justice and Public Safety Irfan Sabir during a press conference in Red Deer on Thursday.
He said the UCP is pushing forward with a provincial police force despite Premier Danielle Smith's promise that she would not during the 2023 election campaign since so many Albertans were opposed to it.
"We have seen this government say things that are not truthful over and over. For instance just before the election, they said nobody's touching your pensions, and as soon as they got elected they brought a bill forward to essentially do what they said they wouldn't do."
The UCP police plan is not about addressing public safety, he added.
"It is simply the UCP pandering to their base who only care about picking fights with Ottawa," Sabir said.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis said the government invested an additional $20.9 million in the 2024 budget to increase the RCMP's capacity.
"Despite this increase in funding and ongoing conversations with the federal government, many of the additional positions remain unfilled," Ellis said in a statement.
Alberta is currently understaffed by 389 RCMP officers, he said.
"This is unacceptable. Albertans deserve to feel safe and protected in their communities and the federal government must immediately take action to reduce these staff vacancies. Despite what the NDP says, this is why Alberta’s government passed Bill 11, The Public Safety Statutes Amendment Act, which will enable the creation of an independent police agency to respond to the evolving public safety needs of communities in Alberta to help augment front-line policing."
Ellis said he is committed to working with the federal government, the RCMP and local municipalities to address concerns about the future of contract policing.
The cost to transition to an Alberta police force throughout the province is estimated to cost $1.3 billion over six years, and Alberta would also lose $1.02 billion in federal funding.
NDP Critic for Municipal Affairs Kyle Kasawski said Red Deer RCMP have been providing a good service to residents and the City of Red Deer should be able to choose who gets the city's police contract.
"The UCP government must scrap its costly plan and apologize to Alberta municipalities, and all Albertans, for wasting so much time, money and energy creating a problem instead of solving problems that matter," Kasawski said.
"Albertans are already paying way more for utilities, car insurance, tuition and student debt under the UCP. What kind of government wants to burden taxpayers even more by forcing them to pay for a vanity project to appease their voter base?"