Wednesday, November 10, 2021
The new collective agreement for the members of the RCMP has created significant challenges for municipalities including Grand Bay-Westfield. The key challenges include:
- Municipalities were not consulted at any stage–prior to or during the collective bargaining process–despite the outcome of these negotiations having a direct impact on municipal operations.
- The cost estimates that were given to municipalities turned out to be far too low.
- Municipalities do not have the tools to absorb new, significant and unbudgeted increases to the costs of policing.
- Municipalities could be forced to make difficult choices – such as making cuts to essential services or passing on increases in property taxes to local residents.
Grand Bay-Westfield, like other municipalities, has been setting aside 2.5% per year in anticipation of a new collective agreement; this was not enough.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has proposed two solutions supported by Council resolution:
- The Federal Government absorb all retroactive costs associated with the implementation of the new RCMP labour relations regime.
- The Federal Government commit to ensuring municipalities are properly consulted prior to implementation of measures that impact local fiscal sustainability and ability to maintain effective levels of police services in communities.
