Alberta
Alberta Justice Minister to meet with municipal leaders about forming Alberta Provincial Police
Submitted by Minister Tyler Shandro
Alberta Provincial Police and the RCMP
To keep our communities safe and to protect our way of life, Alberta needs police services that are well managed, properly resourced, and accountable to local communities.
The national model that we have right now does not meet these expectations. The RCMP is stretched far and wide, dealing with everything from national threats to traffic stops in small-town Alberta.
We believe policing can be improved to meet the needs of all Albertans. That’s why our government has developed a proposal to create a provincial police service.
I want to be clear: this proposal is not a criticism of the RCMP. Our frontline officers do amazing work. Our concerns are with a national policing model that is bureaucratic and unaccountable.
Over the years, Alberta, other Canadian provinces, and even the federal government have repeatedly identified problems with this national policing model. This national model does a poor job of recruiting police officers. It fails to properly staff rural detachments. It trains police officers outside of Alberta. It uses a lab system that fails to process evidence fast enough. And it excludes municipalities from collective bargaining for the RCMP while offloading increased costs onto municipalities.
The provincial model that Alberta has proposed will increase the number of frontline police officers and civilian specialists in every detachment. It will expand the use of mental health nurses. It will reduce the transfer of officers in and out of communities. And, importantly, it will increase the ability for municipal governments to have a say in local policing, and be more cost-effective.
Alberta is not the only province interested in establishing a provincial police service. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan are all looking at the same issue. This spring, an all-party committee in British Columbia unanimously recommended replacing the RCMP with a provincial police service. And last year, a federal report recommended that the federal government explore ending the use of the RCMP for local policing and help provinces interested in setting up their own police service.
If a new provincial police service is created, it would not replace municipal or First Nation police services. In fact, Alberta’s government will actively support municipalities and First Nations that are interested in creating their own police service.
Under the proposed provincial model, no municipality will face increased costs. Municipalities would pay the same or less for a provincial police service compared to what they pay for the RCMP. This is a far better bargain than the federal model, which will require municipalities to pay a larger share of policing costs in the coming years.
We believe that policing can be improved in our province. Over the summer, I will be meeting with municipalities, stakeholders and Albertans to continue this important and long overdue conversation.
Tyler Shandro
Minister of Justice and Solicitor General
Premier Danielle Smith issued the following statement on the April 2, 2025 U.S. tariff announcement:
“Today was an important win for Canada and Alberta, as it appears the United States has decided to uphold the majority of the free trade agreement (CUSMA) between our two nations. It also appears this will continue to be the case until after the Canadian federal election has concluded and the newly elected Canadian government is able to renegotiate CUSMA with the U.S. administration.
“This is precisely what I have been advocating for from the U.S. administration for months.
“It means that the majority of goods sold into the United States from Canada will have no tariffs applied to them, including zero per cent tariffs on energy, minerals, agricultural products, uranium, seafood, potash and host of other Canadian goods.
“There is still work to be done, of course. Unfortunately, tariffs previously announced by the United States on Canadian automobiles, steel and aluminum have not been removed. The efforts of premiers and the federal government should therefore shift towards removing or significantly reducing these remaining tariffs as we go forward and ensuring affected workers across Canada are generously supported until the situation is resolved.
“I again call on all involved in our national advocacy efforts to focus on diplomacy and persuasion while avoiding unnecessary escalation. Clearly, this strategy has been the most effective to this point.
“As it appears the worst of this tariff dispute is behind us (though there is still work to be done), it is my sincere hope that we, as Canadians, can abandon the disastrous policies that have made Canada vulnerable to and overly dependent on the United States, fast-track national resource corridors, get out of the way of provincial resource development and turn our country into an independent economic juggernaut and energy superpower.”
From the Fraser Institute
By any measure, Alberta is an energy powerhouse—within Canada, but also on a global scale. In 2023, it produced 85 per cent of Canada’s oil and three-fifths of the country’s natural gas. Most of Canada’s oil reserves are in Alberta, along with a majority of natural gas reserves. Alberta is the beating heart of the Canadian energy economy. And energy, in turn, accounts for one-quarter of Canada’s international exports.
Consider some key facts about the province’s energy landscape, as noted in the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) 2023 annual report. Oil and natural gas production continued to rise (on a volume basis) in 2023, on the heels of steady increases over the preceding half decade. However, the dollar value of Alberta’s oil and gas production fell in 2023, as the surging prices recorded in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine retreated. Capital spending in the province’s energy sector reached $30 billion in 2023, making it the leading driver of private-sector investment. And completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project has opened new offshore export avenues for Canada’s oil industry and should boost Alberta’s energy production and exports going forward.
In a world striving to address climate change, Alberta’s hydrocarbon-heavy energy sector faces challenges. At some point, the world may start to consume less oil and, later, less natural gas (in absolute terms). But such “peak” consumption hasn’t arrived yet, nor does it appear imminent. While the demand for certain refined petroleum products is trending down in some advanced economies, particularly in Europe, we should take a broader global perspective when assessing energy demand and supply trends.
Looking at the worldwide picture, Goldman Sachs’ 2024 global energy forecast predicts that “oil usage will increase through 2034” thanks to strong demand in emerging markets and growing production of petrochemicals that depend on oil as the principal feedstock. Global demand for natural gas (including LNG) will also continue to increase, particularly since natural gas is the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel and more of it is being traded in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Against this backdrop, there are reasons to be optimistic about the prospects for Alberta’s energy sector, particularly if the federal government dials back some of the economically destructive energy and climate policies adopted by the last government. According to the AER’s “base case” forecast, overall energy output will expand over the next 10 years. Oilsands output is projected to grow modestly; natural gas production will also rise, in part due to greater demand for Alberta’s upstream gas from LNG operators in British Columbia.
The AER’s forecast also points to a positive trajectory for capital spending across the province’s energy sector. The agency sees annual investment rising from almost $30 billion to $40 billion by 2033. Most of this takes place in the oil and gas industry, but “emerging” energy resources and projects aimed at climate mitigation are expected to represent a bigger slice of energy-related capital spending going forward.
Like many other oil and gas producing jurisdictions, Alberta must navigate the bumpy journey to a lower-carbon future. But the world is set to remain dependent on fossil fuels for decades to come. This suggests the energy sector will continue to underpin not only the Alberta economy but also Canada’s export portfolio for the foreseeable future.
Jock Finlayson
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
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