Canada's largest police union uses media posts, website to 'educate' voters on marshals service
CBC
Media posts by the National Police Federation, Canada's largest police union, that urge voters to go to the polls contain a link to its web page where the federation hopes to "educate" people about its concerns over the provincial marshals service.
Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe re-upped his commitment to fund the service during an election campaign stop on Thursday.
The Saskatchewan NDP has called the service "bogus," and says the party would scrap it if elected.
Over the past week, the National Police Federation, which represents 20,000 RCMP officers across Canada, spent more than $3,500 on sponsored Instagram and Facebook advertisements asking people to vote in the provincial elections on Oct. 28.
Those posts contain a link to its website, where the federation says the province should invest the money it has in existing police resources instead of the marshals service.
"Spending taxpayer dollars on an unneeded police service when residents are happy with the Saskatchewan RCMP is not the answer," the website says.
The marshals service, according to the province, is meant to focus on rural crime, gangs and guns, arresting people with outstanding warrants, and assisting RCMP and municipal police when called.
NPF president Brian Sauvé says the union is not trying to lead people to vote for any particular party.
"Are we influencing the voter or are we educating the voter about an issue they might not be aware of?" he said.
"I see it as educating the voter. We might be talking semantics, you might take a different view but, hey, [if] someone wants to file a complaint under the Saskatchewan Election Act, I'm happy to respond."
Elections Saskatchewan says the Election Act does not require third-party advertisers to register in the province.
The website, along with a voting guide, also lists responses from both the parties to a questionnaire about public safety topics, including policing, crime prevention and emergency response.
The NPF is pushing people to vote in the upcoming elections through social media posts and its Saskatchewan website, Our Saskatchewan RCMP, where it calls the service a project with "no plan, no consultation, and no support."
Sauvé said it's a position they've held since before the NDP voiced its concerns against it.
A federal judge has sided with two First Nations in Manitoba and one in Ontario that sued the Canadian government over its duty to provide them with safe housing and clean drinking water, in separate rulings delivered Friday.
A man and a woman have been charged following a stabbing at Dundas Station last week, Toronto police say.
More than five dozen items belonging to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are one step closer to returning home.
Wild boars have been declared "a pest in all circumstances" by the Alberta government effective Dec. 1, meaning new restrictions have been placed on keeping them in captivity and hunting them in the wild.
Health Canada has issued a public advisory after a convenience store in Toronto sold fake erectile dysfunction drugs to customers.
More details are now available about how a farmer's field in south London will be transformed to shelter up to 60 homeless people starting in January.
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after an officer involved shooting at Danforth Go station early Saturday morning, said Toronto police.
Thousands are without power across Newfoundland this morning due to severe weather conditions, including high winds and cold temperatures.
The federal government says roughly half of the workers expected to be laid off at Algoma Steel will be eligible to be rehired by the end of next year.
Almost a year and a half after pieces of the Mont-Blanc were discovered during dredging in Halifax harbour, plans are taking shape for what to do with some of the wreckage from the famed ship involved in the Halifax Explosion.
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after an officer involved shooting at Danforth Go station early Saturday morning, said Toronto police.
Montreal officials will hold a ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre today.
The City of Regina's proposal to build a roadway through the McKell Wascana Conservation Park should be discarded, local conservationists say.