OLDS — Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper admits he holds an unpopular view among some regarding a proposal to replace the RCMP with a provincial police force.
He likes it.
Cooper admitted that during an appearance before the Town of Olds council on Feb. 14.
Coun. Darren Wilson asked Cooper for his thoughts regarding the proposal.
Cooper said in his observation, most people who oppose the idea belong to the RCMP, have some connection with an RCMP member or they’re town councillors or mayors.
He said most constituents he’s met who don’t fall into any of those categories support the idea of a provincial police service.
- RELATED: Olds council opposes creation of provincial police force
- RELATED: Mountain View County calls for RCMP to be retained
Cooper said because opinion on the issue is “a real mixed bag” he thinks a referendum should be held on the question.
“I think the most important key fact around this is getting an apples to apples comparison on costing,” Cooper said.
“It might be apples to apples, but everyone – not everyone, large groups of people -- will say ‘well who were the apples picking the apples?’
“And members who have a vested interest will say ‘those aren’t the right apples’ and members of the government or people who are speaking in favour of the (provincial) police force will say ‘we only have the best apples.’
“So it’s always going to be a bit of a controversial discussion. But I think it’s an important one to have,” he added.
“At the end of the day, any Albertan would like the provincial government to find ways that Alberta can have more control over its affairs and the federal government," Cooper said.
“I don’t believe that the majority of Albertans want to separate or anything like that – but I do believe the majority of people I speak with would like to have the ability to control more of the decisions here in Alberta than have them imposed upon us by Ottawa,” he added.
However, during a recent meeting in Olds, two representatives of an RCMP union, Jeff McGowan and Kevin. R. Halwa of the National Police Federation (NPF) said a current agreement between the province and federal government does not allow the federal government to control RCMP policing in Alberta.
“Article 6 sets out -- and I’ll read it right from the screen – ‘the provincial minister will set the objectives, priorities and goals of the province of the provincial police service,’ full stop,” Halwa said.
“There is no influence from Ottawa, there is no influence from the commanding officer, there is no influence from my mother. The provincial minister sets the priorities.”
