New RCMP contract for BC to be inked today
Posted March 21, 2012 10:42 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS1130) – It’s taken months of negotiations and even a veiled threat to call the whole deal off. But today, BC and Ottawa will sign a new RCMP contract for our province.
BC Justice Minister Shirley Bond and Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews will ink the contract at a news conference at the Surrey RCMP headquarters, the country’s largest detachment.
The new 20-year deal means cities will pay about 90 per cent of RCMP policing costs, which amounts to about a one per cent increase. However, the federal government will pay 30 per cent of integrated police teams costs.
Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender, who has acted as a local liaison for municipalities during negotiations, explains cities will also have a two-year opt out clause.
“If they were to say, ‘We want to go our own way or partner with a neighbouring community and form a municipal force or contract another municipal force,’ they can give two years’ notice, and it’s unlikely that they would be refused that request,” he tells us.
Fassbender notes the contract will also go under the microscope on a regular basis. “We will be opening up the contract every five years to deal with substantive issues that we’ve identified that need renegotiation.”
The deal, which took months to negotiate, saw Toews issue a veiled threat of “take it or leave it” while Premier Christy Clark mused about BC starting its own provincial police force if an adequate deal couldn’t be reached.
