Alberta is going after a law enforcement salary rollback? Wow. That’s, uh... bold. That will kill any recruiting to a provincial police service right there. The nurse salary rollback is equally mind blowing.
Alberta had decades to build up sovereign wealth and to prepare for an economic transition. Yet they still remain without a provincial sales tax. Something’s gonna give, and I don’t think it’ll be nurse or law enforcement salaries.
As frustrated as the rest of the country is about the above, I think I can safely say on behalf of other Albertans that we are equally mind-blown and significantly more pissed about our change of fortune! And yes, it absolutely is 'our fault' as a province.
On the one hand, we had decades of big money coming into government. At one point our provincial debt was paid off, and every single Albertan was receiving a cheque for $200 'just because'. We had plenty of time after that to look at the future, look at where the world was going, invest accordingly, and set ourselves up for success. While agriculture is a fairly steady industry, it doesn't bring in anywhere near the kind of money that oil does/did. (Having Saudi Arabia own the Canadian Wheat Board doesn't help...)
On the other hand, I don't think anybody foresaw the price of oil dropping as quickly/dramatically as it did - or a federal government that is openly hostile to the oil & gas industry. Those things could have been
somewhat mitigated if we hadn't so arrogantly assumed "It's oil, this party is never going to end!" - and started investing/diversifying/planning for the future. The future just came a lot faster than anybody here suspected.
As for Alberta provincial law enforcement, we are slowly going in that direction. Just to clarify again - I am a peace officer, not a police officer. But I do work for SolGen (Solicitor Generals Office) who does run the Sheriffs, provincial Corrections, CVSE, and a variety of joint units. None of this is official, but I can echo a few of the posts made above:
- The Sheriffs Branch has had a traffic section for ages (Highway Patrol) who's #1 purpose - even if not publicly stated - is to issue violation tickets/summons, and generate revenue for the province. Yes, this does make the highways safer - but from the perspective of the provincial government, they like the revenue side.
- Sheriffs and RCMP have had joint units for ages also, throughout the province. This applies to traffic enforcement, but also at the higher levels with joint surveillance units, ASIRT, specialized investigation services, etc.
- The decision to arm CVSE officers was a good call, and one that is long overdue in my opinion. I did a practicum with CVSE while I was in school, and those officers find themselves in some extremely isolated areas, while working alone. Having the safety of a firearm if the need should arise is a good call, and guaranteed it will save someone's life over the next few years. (Plenty of stories internally on situations where CVSE being armed could have been extremely beneficial.)
^ It also makes sense to expand their scope somewhat, to be able to assist RCMP and Sheriff traffic units. I've witnessed first hand drivers driving erratically, plates registered as stolen, or random 'road situations' where they didn't have the mandate or support to do anything about it. All they could do was notify dispatch, and hopefully dispatch would call the local RCMP station & forward the message.
- Staff College trains a variety of provincial branches, most notably Sheriffs and Corrections. CVSE officers still do their training at Lethbridge College, if I am not mistaken? The CVSE branch does have an extremely thorough and impressive training program, I was quite surprised. (And truth be told, I probably couldn't pass it. The technical knowledge those officers have is pretty amazing.) They have also won several Canada/US competitions in their field.
Alberta isn't in a financial position to start up it’s own provincial police service. Expanding the duties or scopes of the services we do have is a good way to bolster enforcement & available units, without actually spending much money.
Having the Sheriffs focusing on traffic, for example, and able to make arrests on warrants & charge for more CC stuff is a good start. If CVSE is up for the tasks, all the better.
Our province does love to waste money. It’s mind boggling. But I think even the powers at me know we aren’t in a financial position to replace the RCMP with Sheriff Branch just yet. The fact that the feds pay 10% of the cost is a pretty attractive perk, too.