UCP MLAs vote against funding rural crime-fighting RCMP officers

For immediate release

March 15, 2018

EDMONTON – UCP MLAs voted against the funding that pays RCMP salaries in rural Alberta.

The $37 million in funding includes salaries and additional supports for the RCMP officers in rural Alberta. It passed the Assembly’s Committee of Supply this morning. Every UCP MLA present voted against the funding during a voice vote.[1]

As a federal politician, Kenney let the funding for ALERT, which targets organized crime, gang violence, fentanyl trafficking and child exploitation, lapse. The Alberta NDP restored ALERT funding in Alberta’s 2016 budget.[2]

When they had the opportunity to fund RCMP salaries that fight rural crime, the UCP caucus voted no. Those are the wrong priorities for Albertans, especially in rural Alberta.

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[1] Legislative Assembly of Alberta. March 15 2018. (11:54:29 am) http://assemblyonline.assembly.ab.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20180315/-1/8488?autoPlay=true

[2] Global News. April 21 2016. https://globalnews.ca/news/2653563/2-6m-in-new-funding-for-alert-saves-jobs-alberta-ndp/