Do Alberta municipalities want a provincial police force?
The Alberta government has introduced new legislation to amend the Police Act, making it easier to establish a provincial police force. Alberta Municipalities president Tyler Gandam joins Edmonton AM's Mark Connolly to discuss whether it's the solution to emergency response times and other issues facing policing in small municipalities.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Vancouver Sun
16-05-2025
- Vancouver Sun
B.C. minister's performance in key portfolio leaves much to be desired
VICTORIA — Public Safety Minister Garry Begg expressed no concern this week when news broke that the RCMP had interviewed Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko as part of a witch hunt for a whistleblower. Begg hadn't actually launched the investigation into the leak to Sturko that exposed the widespread diversion of safer supply drugs to the illicit market. The order was given by Glen Lewis, director of police services in Begg's ministry of public safety and solicitor general. But the investigation had no more enthusiastic defender than the minister himself. A daily roundup of Opinion pieces from the Sun and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Informed Opinion will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'The director is fully within his role to act as he did,' Begg told reporters Wednesday. 'It was an appropriate request, an appropriate investigation. The director did exactly what he should have done.' It wasn't really a request. The section of the Police Act under which Lewis acted made it an order to the RCMP, not a request. Nor did Begg see anything wrong with police descending on Sturko to ask for the source of the leak. 'She was told right away that she was not the subject of an investigation,' the minister said. What about her concern that the investigation was intended to silence whistleblowers and intimidate the Opposition? 'She was, like I, a policeman for many years,' replied Begg. 'She knows how police do their business. I would be very surprised if she was shocked that the police wanted to talk to her.' So, this was OK in his view? 'I certainly approve of an investigation being conducted into the information that was provided to her — that's appropriate.' Begg said all this after the Premier David Eby had said the opposite. Eby defended Sturko. He agreed that the probe could intimidate whistleblowers and the Opposition. Also suggested police resources could be better applied to investigate pharmacies engaged in the diversion of safer supply drugs. Were the premier and his minister of public safety on the same page? 'I can't comment on what the premier has said,' Begg replied. 'I haven't talked to the premier about it.' There matters stood at mid-afternoon on Wednesday, following question period in the legislature. Then at 5 p.m. came an email with what were advertised as 'clarifying comments' from the minister. 'I've now had the opportunity to speak to the premier,' Begg began. 'We've discussed the issue, and I'd like my position to be clear.' One: 'What I approve of is an independent process, and the director of police services was operating under his authority.' Two: 'We support whistleblowers and whistleblower protections.' Three: 'It is our view that everyone should be focusing attention on investigating the pharmacies alleged to be involved in drug diversion.' Four: 'I fully agree Elenore Sturko was doing her job.' Begg said almost none of that to reporters a few hours earlier. Not that whistleblowers needed protection, not that there were better uses for police resources, not that Sturko was doing her job. Presumably his comments flowed from his session with the premier. Eby had offered a critical take on the leak investigation at a noon-hour news conference. He had repeated his comments in question period. On Sturko: 'It is important that the House recognizes that she was doing her job. I spent some time on the Opposition benches, I recognize effective Opposition work. This was certainly a case of that. She shouldn't get a phone call from police for doing her job.' On whistleblowers: 'We introduced legislation to protect whistleblowers. We support whistleblowers bringing forward information that can assist us all in understanding what's happening in the province on the front lines.' On the investigation: 'I'm extremely reluctant to weigh in on where police put their resources. But I really hope that there is more effort going into investigating these pharmacies rather than anything related to the member and what she did in this House.' On Lewis himself: 'I haven't talked to the director yet. The independent director has an important role to play in our system. That independence is part of it. The head of the public service will contact him and will understand the intention and what the plan was and so on.' The premier said all of that — and more — in question period. Begg was in the House when Eby said it. His desk is a few seats away from that of the premier. Yet when reporters talked to the minister after question period, he appeared not to have absorbed any of the premier's thinking. Was Begg not paying attention? Or is he just one of those NDP ministers, confined to a message box and unable to venture outside until authorized to say something different. Either way it wasn't a flattering performance by a minister in a key portfolio. No wonder Begg didn't make the cut when Eby appointed his first cabinet. It took his 22-vote victory in the last election, which secured the NDP majority, before he made it to cabinet rank. No wonder, too, that the premier decided to bypass the minister and get the head of the public service to communicate directly with Lewis on the rationale for this ill-advised investigation. vpalmer@
Vancouver Sun
15-05-2025
- Vancouver Sun
Minister's performance in key portfolio leaves much to be desired
VICTORIA — Public Safety Minister Garry Begg expressed no concern this week when news broke that the RCMP had interviewed Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko as part of a witch hunt for a whistleblower. Begg hadn't actually launched the investigation into the leak to Sturko that exposed the widespread diversion of safer supply drugs to the illicit market. The order was given by Glen Lewis, director of police services in Begg's ministry of public safety and solicitor general. But the investigation had no more enthusiastic defender than the minister himself. A daily roundup of Opinion pieces from the Sun and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Informed Opinion will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'The director is fully within his role to act as he did,' Begg told reporters Wednesday. 'It was an appropriate request, an appropriate investigation. The director did exactly what he should have done.' It wasn't really a request. The section of the Police Act under which Lewis acted made it an order to the RCMP, not a request. Nor did Begg see anything wrong with police descending on Sturko to ask for the source of the leak. 'She was told right away that she was not the subject of an investigation,' the minister said. What about her concern that the investigation was intended to silence whistleblowers and intimidate the Opposition? 'She was, like I, a policeman for many years,' replied Begg. 'She knows how police do their business. I would be very surprised if she was shocked that the police wanted to talk to her.' So, this was OK in his view? 'I certainly approve of an investigation being conducted into the information that was provided to her — that's appropriate.' Begg said all this after the Premier David Eby had said the opposite. Eby defended Sturko. He agreed that the probe could intimidate whistleblowers and the Opposition. Also suggested police resources could be better applied to investigate pharmacies engaged in the diversion of safer supply drugs. Were the premier and his minister of public safety on the same page? 'I can't comment on what the premier has said,' Begg replied. 'I haven't talked to the premier about it.' There matters stood at mid-afternoon on Wednesday, following question period in the legislature. Then at 5 p.m. came an email with what were advertised as 'clarifying comments' from the minister. 'I've now had the opportunity to speak to the premier,' Begg began. 'We've discussed the issue, and I'd like my position to be clear.' One: 'What I approve of is an independent process, and the director of police services was operating under his authority.' Two: 'We support whistleblowers and whistleblower protections.' Three: 'It is our view that everyone should be focusing attention on investigating the pharmacies alleged to be involved in drug diversion.' Four: 'I fully agree Elenore Sturko was doing her job.' Begg said almost none of that to reporters a few hours earlier. Not that whistleblowers needed protection, not that there were better uses for police resources, not that Sturko was doing her job. Presumably his comments flowed from his session with the premier. Eby had offered a critical take on the leak investigation at a noon-hour news conference. He had repeated his comments in question period. On Sturko: 'It is important that the House recognizes that she was doing her job. I spent some time on the Opposition benches, I recognize effective Opposition work. This was certainly a case of that. She shouldn't get a phone call from police for doing her job.' On whistleblowers: 'We introduced legislation to protect whistleblowers. We support whistleblowers bringing forward information that can assist us all in understanding what's happening in the province on the front lines.' On the investigation: 'I'm extremely reluctant to weigh in on where police put their resources. But I really hope that there is more effort going into investigating these pharmacies rather than anything related to the member and what she did in this House.' On Lewis himself: 'I haven't talked to the director yet. The independent director has an important role to play in our system. That independence is part of it. The head of the public service will contact him and will understand the intention and what the plan was and so on.' The premier said all of that — and more — in question period. Begg was in the House when Eby said it. His desk is a few seats away from that of the premier. Yet when reporters talked to the minister after question period, he appeared not to have absorbed any of the premier's thinking. Was Begg not paying attention? Or is he just one of those NDP ministers, confined to a message box and unable to venture outside until authorized to say something different. Either way it wasn't a flattering performance by a minister in a key portfolio. No wonder Begg didn't make the cut when Eby appointed his first cabinet. It took his 22-vote victory in the last election, which secured the NDP majority, before he made it to cabinet rank. No wonder, too, that the premier decided to bypass the minister and get the head of the public service to communicate directly with Lewis on the rationale for this ill-advised investigation. vpalmer@
Vancouver Sun
15-05-2025
- Vancouver Sun
Premier admits witch hunt for 'safer supply' whistleblower makes B.C. government look bad
VICTORIA — Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko was in her office in Victoria on April 30 when staff told her the anti-corruption unit in the RCMP's major crimes section wanted to talk to her. Sturko is a former RCMP officer and not easily taken aback. But 'major crimes' and 'anti-corruption' got her attention. She called back immediately. The reason for the call was even more sobering, Sturko learned from the officer at the other end of the phone. The RCMP were investigating the source of a leak, one that had fallen into Sturko's hands, one she'd used to embarrass the NDP government. A daily roundup of Opinion pieces from the Sun and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Informed Opinion will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The leaked Health Ministry document confirmed what the New Democrats had long denied: Safer supply drugs were being diverted from the intended users to the illicit market. The investigating officer wanted to know if Sturko's source for the document had been a police officer. 'No,' she replied. Beyond that, the MLA refused to say. The conversation was not a long one. 'Ten minutes at most,' says Sturko. The call left her 'pissed off' as she told Rob Shaw, who broke the story Tuesday in the Northern Beat online. The document was delivered to Sturko in her capacity as critic for the Ministry of Solicitor General and Public Safety. That is the very ministry where the director of policing services, Glen Lewis, asked the RCMP to investigate, using his powers under the Police Act. Sturko is also the MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale. She believes that members of the public must be free to pass information to MLAs without fear of attracting the attention of the police. 'It is absolutely shameful,' Sturko told me Wednesday. 'There is no doubt in my mind that the government launched this investigation to try to silence whistleblowers and to intimidate the Opposition.' The circumstances do raise suspicions. Sturko released the Health Ministry document to the news media on Feb. 5. It confirmed news reports going back 18 months about the diversion of safer supply drugs. The New Democrats had repeatedly denied and discounted those reports, insisting there was 'no evidence of widespread diversion. Some local RCMP detachments did confirm the diversion was happening. Then on March 11 of last year, RCMP headquarters issued what amounted to a gag order, warning detachments against speaking to reporters 'about controversial or high-profile issues in the pre-election time.' The warning silenced further reports and protected the NDP through to the election. It is also worth recalling the initial government response to Sturko's leak in February. Health Minister Josie Osborne said the MLA's action in releasing a 'confidential document' was 'appalling' because it risked compromising a police investigation into the illicit trade. Not so, said Sturko. She'd checked with the appropriate authorities and confirmed that the version she'd released — minus names and other identifying details — posed no threat to ongoing investigation. A few days after Osborne levelled her accusation, the director of policing services fired off a letter to the RCMP's acting commanding officer for B.C., Will Ng. 'I am writing to request an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of government information related to the investigation of diverted safer supply,' wrote Lewis on Feb. 10. The Health Ministry document 'included sensitive information including investigative information,' he went on to say. With that, the investigation was underway. Later in February, the health minister had to admit that Sturko was right. Osborne announced that henceforth safer supply drugs could only be consumed in the presence of witnesses, to preclude the diversions that had been well documented by her own ministry. Given the embarrassing circumstances for the NDP — the truth about diversion, the backlash over the leak, and then the backdown on safer supply — someone in the government may well have wished to be rid of Sturko's troublesome whistleblower. Solicitor General Garry Begg denied having any part in it. 'I did not direct that this investigation related to the unauthorized release of sensitive information be requested, and I wasn't aware of the request at that time,' he said in a statement. Begg defended the appropriateness of the investigation in a scrum with reporters. His ministry also maintained that neither he nor anyone else in the government had the authority to order a halt. While Begg ran for cover, Premier David Eby grasped how bad it looked for the New Democrats to be presiding over a witch hunt for a whistleblower. 'Elenore Sturko did her job,' the premier told reporters on Wednesday. Had Eby been handed such a delicious leak during his days in Opposition, 'I would have done exactly what she did.' Eby also said he understands how this investigation could be interpreted as an effort to silence whistleblowers and intimidate the Opposition. He then added that anyone who thought it possible to intimidate Sturko would be greatly mistaken. The premier maintained that the government cannot order the director of policing services to stop the investigation. But does he wish that Lewis would call a halt? 'It doesn't feel like a priority right now,' he replied. A strong hint there from the premier that Lewis should drop this investigation before it causes the New Democrats any more embarrassment. vpalmer@
