As policing costs climb, Manitoba municipalities want more say in RCMP contract negotiations
'We are the ones who are directly impacted by whatever ends up being negotiated,' says Steinbach deputy mayor
Some Manitoba municipalities who rely on RCMP for policing services want more say in contract negotiations with the national police force.
The federal government's current collective agreement with the National Police Federation, the union that represents RCMP members, is set to expire at the end of March.
Mounties got a 23.7 per cent retroactive increase in 2022, under their first collective agreement after unionizing, which was retroactive to 2017. Last year, they were awarded an eight per cent salary hike over two years after a second round of negotiations.
"We are the ones who are directly impacted by whatever ends up being negotiated," said Steinbach Deputy Mayor Michael Zwaagstra. "We have to try to find the money in our budget somehow."
The southeastern Manitoba city, with a population of nearly 18,000, according to the last census, contracts the RCMP for policing. It foots 90 per cent of the total cost under a federal cost-sharing agreement, with the salaries of the 18 RCMP officers in Steinbach being the main expense in the annual policing budget, Zwaagstra said.
Steinbach anticipated some pay hikes for RCMP in its latest budget, he said, but collective bargaining is unpredictable. And because the RCMP contracts are negotiated by the federal government, municipalities aren't directly involved in negotiations, which makes it harder for them to control their budgets, said Zwaagstra.
"If we're going to pay for 90 per cent of the total cost of the contract, then we should have some input in terms of what that cost will be," he said. "We need to make sure that we can plan for the future."
WATCH | City of Steinbach wants more input into RCMP contract negotiations:
The Treasury Board of Canada told CBC News it works with the jurisdictions where the RCMP operates to better understand their perspective and concerns on the contracts. That feedback is later used to inform negotiation strategies, according to a spokesperson for the federal agency.
But that doesn't go far enough, said Zwaagstra.
"There should be a direct municipal voice at the beginning of the collective bargaining process, rather than have an agreement presented to us after the fact, and then we have to find the money in our budget somehow," he said.
The RCMP has served Steinbach well for many decades, said Zwaagstra.
"We just want to make sure that we are able to budget appropriately."
'It's just not fair': AMM
The Association of Manitoba Municipalities is supporting Steinbach and the 20 other communities in the province that contract RCMP for police services, which have similar concerns.
The association's president says while municipalities value the service of the RCMP, they need a sustainable, long-term funding approach that includes municipal consultation, and gives them some predictability for their budgets.
"The decisions that are being made … are impacting our municipal wallets, but don't consider our own municipal inputs," said Kathy Valentino, who is also a Thompson city councillor.
After two previous rounds of collective bargaining with RCMP, Valentino said the total contract cost for the municipalities went up 40 per cent on average, from 2020 to 2023.
"It's just not fair for municipalities," she said. "We cannot continue to bear the unexpected [increases] … without a voice in this process."
The wage increases are causing a financial burden on local governments across the province, who have to balance their budget and still deliver other essential services, she said.
"We really urged the federal government to step up [and] to advocate for all municipal contract partners for policing," said Valentino.
"It's not just a federal priority, it's broader across the Canadian economy."
With files from Zubina Ahmed