Mayor defends Hamilton police budget while experts weigh in on board's power to change it
CBC
Watch CBC Hamilton's full interview with Mayor Andrea Horwath below.
Requesting Hamilton police trim their spending on office supplies, the mounted unit or cable TV interferes with their operations and runs afoul of provincial legislation, says Mayor Andrea Horwath.
In a sit-down interview with CBC Hamilton Tuesday, Horwath explained why she opposed asking the police service to cut specific items from their $214.8 million budget.
Council sent the 2024 police budget back for further review during its annual budget process, which prompted a special police services board meeting last week. Horwath voted in support of the review at the council meeting in late January.
"Everybody knew that it was not likely to change," Horwath said of the police budget. "But as the mayor I felt like I needed to be responsive to the vast majority of the council and not simply say 'no, I'm not doing it.'"
Watch: Hamilton mayor explains her vote on police budget
At the special board meeting, members Cameron Kroetsch, who is also a city councillor, and Dr. Anjali Menezes put forward a series of motions directing police to find savings in a number of specific ways, including deferring the hiring of 22 new staff members and cutting retiree events and website design.
They were not successful with Horwath and other board members voting the motions down.
Horwath told CBC Hamilton the proposed "line by line" cuts would change police operations.
"The legislation is very clear: the board cannot direct the operations of the police service," she said, referring to the Police Services Act. "That's solely the responsibility of the chief."
Two policing experts who spoke to CBC Hamilton offered insight into what power the police board has when it comes to the budget.
They both pointed to the Police Services Act, sections 31 through 39, as detailing where the board can have some say in the budget, with some limitations.
Alok Mukherjee, former chair of the Toronto Police Services Board from 2005 to 2015, said board members do have the power to suggest specific savings to the police service the way Kroetsch and Menezes tried to do.
"The board has the power to go through the police budget with a fine tooth comb," he said.
A holiday event that began in 2020 during the pandemic with three floats on pickup trucks has now become one of Kelowna’s big winter events, drawing thousands to the city’s downtown core.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.