Wednesday, May 19, 2021 Vol. 44, No. 20
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YOUR LOCAL PAPER Irma asks that residents refrain from driving through wildlife nesting area
Viking Council supports RCMP, not proposed Alberta police force Patricia Harcourt Editor
The green space near the golf course in Irma is a nature spot with nesting geese. The village has provided a map on its website showing the area that is not to be used as a road. Boulders and signs have also been placed across the area to stop through traffic.
Compiled by Patricia Harcourt With high case health restrictions in effect for the M.D. of Wainwright, there are 88 cases of COVID-19 in the municipal district as of May 16. This makes for a case count of 738.6 per 100,000 within a population of 11,915. The Village of Irma on the M.D.s western boundary, is also dealing
with the increased viral numbers. The village has reduced tax penalties from 12 per cent to three per cent to try and offset some of the residents’ financial burdens. “We hope that this helps those who are struggling with our current situation and eases some of the stress that the pandemic has caused,” stated the village posting. See IRMA P7
Viking Council took a stand in favour of keeping the long-standing traditional RCMP police service rather than switching to a provincial police force. The provincial government is investigating the strong possibility of giving the RCMP its marching orders and setting up its own independent police organization for Alberta. The idea is getting a lot of push back from smaller communities who are already dealing with having to pay for increased levels of police funding, and other downloading taking place under this provincial government. After reviewing two letters to Minister of Justice Kaycee Madu from mayors in support of keeping the RCMP, council agreed the positions taken were well documented and deserving of Viking’s support. “They were both good letters,” said Councillor Debbie O’Toole-Balaban. “I would definitely support them.” Mayor Jason Ritchie agreed with that position before O’Toole-Balaban made a motion to have the mayor write a letter to Madu on behalf of the town in support of retaining the RCMP. This motion was passed unanimously with no further discussion. The two letters cc’d to Viking were from the mayors of Edson and Claresholm. Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara refuted provincial statements that an Alberta police force would cost the municipalities nothing.
“We do not believe this is realistic,” he wrote, to Madu. “Who will bear the cost of this service? Currently Edson RCMP operate out of a federally owned building. Should there be a switch to an APPS (Alberta Provincial Police Service), who would assume the cost of a new detachment? Not to mention all of the other infrastructure that would be required to build an APPS.” Before her motion, O’TooleBalaban had said she found this statement about infrastructure and costs to be especially credible. Mayor Douglas McPherson of Claresholm added: “Municipalities in Alberta continue to be faced with having to provide services and support for our residents while funding streams have been significantly cut. This means that our residents are directly affected financially by choices being made at the provincial level. “The Alberta government has instituted a new police funding model that includes communities under 5,000 such as ours to be charged on an increasing scale for policing that we have never been burdened with directly before.” McPherson then reasoned that with that financial input from smaller municipalities now in place, “should the municipalities not be in a stronger position to have an impact on decisions that are being made?” Both communities stated that their relationships with their local RCMP detachments were built up over many years and didn’t want this to change.