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Alberta

Province will step in to help Grande Prairie replace RCMP with Municipal Police Force

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Alberta funds community policing in Grande Prairie

Alberta’s government is ready to support Grande Prairie in establishing a community-led municipal police service to find solutions unique to their community.

Grande Prairie is in the final stages of deciding to create a municipal police service and Alberta’s government is ready to help them do so. If passed, Budget 2023 will provide $9.7 million over two years toward the costs associated with starting a local police service.

“Alberta’s government is ready to support Grande Prairie as the city improves public safety by exploring new and innovative approaches toward local policing. Having a community-led and focused police service will ensure Grande Prairie is finding unique solutions that will better serve their region.”

Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services

The City of Grande Prairie is currently policed by the RCMP under an agreement between the municipality and Public Safety Canada. A recent review of policing independently completed by the city found a significant level of concern with the current policing arrangement. To address these concerns, Grande Prairie commissioned a detailed transition study and public engagement process in September 2022 to consider other police service models.

If Grande Prairie proceeds with setting up a municipal police service, provincial funding will help to offset startup costs such as equipment, uniforms, vehicles and information technology.

“This initial funding gives us confidence that the province will support the City of Grande Prairie should council decide on March 6 to proceed with a municipal police service model.”

Jackie Clayton, mayorCity of Grande Prairie

The province recognizes that startup costs could be a barrier for communities that want to establish a municipal or regional police service. Alberta’s government supports municipalities studying and developing alternate policing models as a way to address public safety concerns and ensure policing priorities are aligned with local priorities. Every municipality and region has unique needs and they are in the best position to decide how to improve safety in their community.

“As Grande Prairie works toward establishing its own community-driven police force, the Alberta government is fully supportive. This is an excellent example of a made-in-Alberta solution that will strengthen enforcement.”

Travis Toews, Minister of Finance and MLA for Grande Prairie-Wapiti

“Crime has been an ongoing concern for rural Albertans and the community hubs that support policing of these large, sparsely populated areas. I am pleased to work with the City of Grande Prairie to support alternatives to address policing concerns going forward.”

Tracy Allard, MLA for Grande Prairie

Funding for Grande Prairie is based on the city going ahead with a municipal police service. If Grande Prairie establishes a municipal police service, the provincial government is prepared to work closely with municipal officials to ensure that public safety is maintained during any transition period.

Quick facts

  • Under Alberta’s Police Act, towns and cities with populations greater than 5,000 are responsible for their own policing.
  • The Police Act gives municipalities the option of having their own police service, forming a regional policing arrangement or contracting for the provincial police’s services (i.e., the RCMP under Alberta’s provincial police service agreement).
  • In 2022, Alberta’s government established the Community Policing Grant, which offers Indigenous communities and municipalities up to $30,000 toward developing a business case examining local needs, capital requirements and transition considerations

Alberta

Low oil prices could have big consequences for Alberta’s finances

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From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

Amid the tariff war, the price of West Texas Intermediate oil—a common benchmark—recently dropped below US$60 per barrel. Given every $1 drop in oil prices is an estimated $750 million hit to provincial revenues, if oil prices remain low for long, there could be big implications for Alberta’s budget.

The Smith government already projects a $5.2 billion budget deficit in 2025/26 with continued deficits over the following two years. This year’s deficit is based on oil prices averaging US$68.00 per barrel. While the budget does include a $4 billion “contingency” for unforeseen events, given the economic and fiscal impact of Trump’s tariffs, it could quickly be eaten up.

Budget deficits come with costs for Albertans, who will already pay a projected $600 each in provincial government debt interest in 2025/26. That’s money that could have gone towards health care and education, or even tax relief.

Unfortunately, this is all part of the resource revenue rollercoaster that’s are all too familiar to Albertans.

Resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) is inherently volatile. In the last 10 years alone, it has been as high as $25.2 billion in 2022/23 and as low as $2.8 billion in 2015/16. The provincial government typically enjoys budget surpluses—and increases government spending—when oil prices and resource revenue is relatively high, but is thrown into deficits when resource revenues inevitably fall.

Fortunately, the Smith government can mitigate this volatility.

The key is limiting the level of resource revenue included in the budget to a set stable amount. Any resource revenue above that stable amount is automatically saved in a rainy-day fund to be withdrawn to maintain that stable amount in the budget during years of relatively low resource revenue. The logic is simple: save during the good times so you can weather the storm during bad times.

Indeed, if the Smith government had created a rainy-day account in 2023, for example, it could have already built up a sizeable fund to help stabilize the budget when resource revenue declines. While the Smith government has deposited some money in the Heritage Fund in recent years, it has not created a dedicated rainy-day account or introduced a similar mechanism to help stabilize provincial finances.

Limiting the amount of resource revenue in the budget, particularly during times of relatively high resource revenue, also tempers demand for higher spending, which is only fiscally sustainable with permanently high resource revenues. In other words, if the government creates a rainy-day account, spending would become more closely align with stable ongoing levels of revenue.

And it’s not too late. To end the boom-bust cycle and finally help stabilize provincial finances, the Smith government should create a rainy-day account.

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Alberta

Governments in Alberta should spur homebuilding amid population explosion

Published on

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill and Austin Thompson

In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Alberta has long been viewed as an oasis in Canada’s overheated housing market—a refuge for Canadians priced out of high-cost centres such as Vancouver and Toronto. But the oasis is starting to dry up. House prices and rents in the province have spiked by about one-third since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent Maru poll, more than 70 per cent of Calgarians and Edmontonians doubt they will ever be able to afford a home in their city. Which raises the question: how much longer can this go on?

Alberta’s housing affordability problem reflects a simple reality—not enough homes have been built to accommodate the province’s growing population. The result? More Albertans competing for the same homes and rental units, pushing prices higher.

Population growth has always been volatile in Alberta, but the recent surge, fuelled by record levels of immigration, is unprecedented. Alberta has set new population growth records every year since 2022, culminating in the largest-ever increase of 186,704 new residents in 2024—nearly 70 per cent more than the largest pre-pandemic increase in 2013.

Homebuilding has increased, but not enough to keep pace with the rise in population. In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Moreover, from 1972 to 2019, Alberta added 2.1 new residents (on average) for every housing unit started compared to 3.9 new residents for every housing unit started in 2024. Put differently, today nearly twice as many new residents are potentially competing for each new home compared to historical norms.

While Alberta attracts more Canadians from other provinces than any other province, federal immigration and residency policies drive Alberta’s population growth. So while the provincial government has little control over its population growth, provincial and municipal governments can affect the pace of homebuilding.

For example, recent provincial amendments to the city charters in Calgary and Edmonton have helped standardize building codes, which should minimize cost and complexity for builders who operate across different jurisdictions. Municipal zoning reforms in CalgaryEdmonton and Red Deer have made it easier to build higher-density housing, and Lethbridge and Medicine Hat may soon follow suit. These changes should make it easier and faster to build homes, helping Alberta maintain some of the least restrictive building rules and quickest approval timelines in Canada.

There is, however, room for improvement. Policymakers at both the provincial and municipal level should streamline rules for building, reduce regulatory uncertainty and development costs, and shorten timelines for permit approvals. Calgary, for instance, imposes fees on developers to fund a wide array of public infrastructure—including roads, sewers, libraries, even buses—while Edmonton currently only imposes fees to fund the construction of new firehalls.

It’s difficult to say how long Alberta’s housing affordability woes will endure, but the situation is unlikely to improve unless homebuilding increases, spurred by government policies that facilitate more development.

Tegan Hill

Director, Alberta Policy, Fraser Institute

Austin Thompson

Senior Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute
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