The municipal council in Saint Andrews hopes to be more actively involved in the negotiations of the RCMP contract.
It voted to send a letter to the federal government regarding the third round of negotiations between the Government of Canada and the National Police Federation – the union representing RCMP members.
“I will say that in the past, I’ve been pretty vocal about police services,” said Saint Andrews Mayor Brad Henderson. “I will say that we have noticed a significant increase in the service we’ve received over the last year.”
The New Brunswick RCMP provides comprehensive policing services to many rural and municipal jurisdictions, given that many cities and larger areas have their own police forces.
In Moncton, the Codiac RCMP has provided city-based police services since 1998.
There is a significant cost to municipalities for policing, including Saint Andrews, which allocates money for five police officers.
According to its 2025 budget, the municipality will pay $796,376 for RCMP services, and it is expected to increase to $1,059,196 by 2029.
In the letter, the council says any increase that results from a third round of collective bargaining would be “detrimental to the municipality.”
“During the first round of collective bargaining, the agreement resulted in a 23.7 per cent retroactive pay increase which severely and negatively impacted municipal contract partners, particularly since we are the only order of government that must annually balance its books and cannot run a deficit,” the letter reads.
A second round also included a $2,500 bonus for frontline officers, which municipalities were not warned about.
“The fiscal shock caused by these decisions, often made without meaningful consultation or consideration of the financial reality of local governments, not only threatens the viability of our municipality but also undermines service delivery,” the letter reads.
Policing services, according to the municipality, account for 15 per cent of its budget.
It adds that the regional model deployed within Charlotte County also gives the perception that residents here are getting less for the extra costs.
The letter alleges there was a missed opportunity to engage municipalities through a survey developed by the Treasury Board Secretariat, which was aimed at informing about the bargaining process.
It said it was disappointed that the Municipal Associate Members on the Contract Management Commitment (CMC) were not consulted about the questionnaire’s content before it was sent out.
“Moreover, since negotiations are conducted exclusively between the federal government and NPF, municipalities have little to no say in the collective bargaining process, despite being a paying contract partner responsible for 70 per cent or 90 per cent of total costs under the MPSA contract,” the letter said.
The council would like to see the next round of negotiations take into consideration the municipal contract partners and their fiscal circumstances, as well as a long-term deal negotiated to provide greater certainty that would better align with its budgeting processes.
Henderson said there has been a lot of improvement in services by the RCMP in recent years, including communication with the councils and the public.
“But really, if I could push back on anything right now with the challenges that we have in this area, it would be that the courts need to make sure that repeat offenders, when they are brought before them, have consequences for their actions,” he said.
In recent months, RCMP in Charlotte County have made several arrests in connection with drugs and serious crime.
As well, the RCMP released a quarterly report to the various councils outlining the progress that had been made in the same quarter the following year.
There was no change in the number of traffic offences, but crimes against persons, which can include varying types of assault, and violations that could cause death, saw a slight reduction.
Property crimes saw a drop, as well, with 165 occurrences in the last quarter of 2024, compared to 363 in the last quarter of 2023-24.
At the time, Staff Sgt. Geoffrey Peters said there are various reasons why certain types of crimes drop.
“It could be fewer reported crimes, however, it could also be a result of our targeting of prolific offenders and working to get them in custody,” he said. “There is some variation expected year over year within a certain percentage, and we would like to hope it is a result of our investigations and cooperation of community members that result in convictions and ultimately lower crime rates,” he said previously.
Henderson said he hopes that the dialogue between the RCMP and the community continues. He hopes municipalities will be meaningfully engaged in the next round of negotiations.
“We’re the ones ultimately that are paying the bill at the end of the day,” he said. “We’re the ones that are hearing it from residents. When people have concerns, they reach out to their local government.”
In February, Eastern Charlotte Mayor John Craig said the council is considering its options on policing services, which was a process that began in July 2023.
Craig said the council spends about $2.2 million on policing, the single largest line item in its budget.
“Our options are very limited in what we can do,” Craig said during an interview with The Courier. “We’ve watched different areas of the province this past year or two.”
Henderson said he knows that Saint Andrews isn’t alone in wanting to be considered in the negotiation process.
The federal Department of Public Safety said it remains committed to timely information-sharing and engagement with contract partners, including municipalities.
“Public Safety Canada and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat will continue to engage and share information with all contract partners while respecting the principle of negotiations-in-confidence,” it said in a statement.
The National Police Federation President and CEO Brian Sauvé said over the past few months it has created a great working relationship with provincial, municipal governments and associations.
“We relay information to them as we can,” he said. “Collective bargaining is a confidential process between the NPF and the Treasury Board of Canada (TB), which provides regular updates and relevant information to the Contract Management Committee (CMC), which has representatives from New Brunswick who are responsible for relaying information and engaging with the municipalities they represent.”
Savué said “in other words, the municipality of Saint Andrews, as well as others, are kept apprised of negotiations by Treasury Board and have the opportunity to express their perspective to TB through their representatives on the CMC.”
