We are rapidly approaching the March 31, 2012 expiration of British Columbia's 20-year contract with the RCMP.
Did anyone have this date circled in red in their daytimers, we wonder? After all, the date hasn't changed in, well, 20 years. Yet here we are - with municipal elections rapidly approaching - struggling to articulate to Ottawa exactly what British Columbia and its member municipalities want included before the door slams shut on another 20 years of federally controlled policing.
Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has already said that if there is no agreement by Nov. 30, the force will begin withdrawing Mounties from the province in 2014. While this all may be sabrerattling, it still seems to be unnecessary.
The Union of British Columbia Municipalities should clearly have wrestled its collective contract wishes to the ground last year, not this year, in order to promote an effective and coordinated approach with the provincial government in discussions with Ottawa.
Instead, the negotiations of sticky issues like local oversight of a federal force and local control of the purse strings have taken on the appearance of a turf war - with those involved perhaps forgetting that their prime duty is to ensure the B.C. taxpayer gets the most cost-effective and effective policing possible. Rarely mentioned is the compli-cating factor of the potential unionization of the Mounties.
Could it be that provincial negotiators just want to give the impression that there is a Plan B, when nobody has any real intention of replacing the RCMP?
We suggest the parties agree to a short-term extension of the existing contract while the difficulties are hashed out. After all, we waited almost 20 years to begin the discussion, what's a few more months?
