'It's the obligation of the municipalities to honour their contracts,' says Ralph Goodale

Burnaby's mayor refusing to pay for extra policing costs for demonstrations against Trans Mountain pipeline expansion

BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – Who pays for the police officers who have had to linger outside Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Mountain facility for the last few weeks?

Burnaby’s mayor says the city isn’t going to do it. But now, federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says it doesn’t have a choice.

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Mayor Derek Corrigan has not been shy about his opposition to the Trans Mountain expansion. He argues that because Ottawa approved the project, the feds should be the ones to pay the officers who have had to deal with the almost daily protests at Burnaby Mountain.

But Goodale says it doesn’t work that way. “That’s a matter of provincial and municipal jurisdiction.”

“There are contracts for the provision of policing services and the RCMP provide those policing services in certain municipalities and it’s the obligation of the municipalities to honour their contracts. They should not be, in any way, risking increased danger in their communities. That would be highly irresponsible,” he adds.

It’s laid out in the BC Policing Act, as well as three 20-year policing agreements.

“That’s within the terms of the municipal contract,” says Goodale.

The City of Burnaby is still refusing to pay the $800,000 policing bill related to the Kinder Morgan protests in 2014.

Protesters have been a common sight at Trans Mountain expansion work area lately. Police have arrested over 150 of them, including the leader of the federal Green Party.

The pipeline expansion would triple the amount of bitumen coming into BC from Alberta.

For its part, Trans Mountain has told NEWS 1130 that its view is that policing is a local government cost.