Sault Ste. Marie city council wants more details on cost of disbanding local police and switching to OPP
CBC
City councillors in Sault Ste. Marie have voted in favour of a motion to compare the cost of policing between the municipal force and the Ontario Provincial Police.
The motion was put forward by city councillor and former Sault Ste. Marie police officer Sonny Spina.
"The intention behind this motion is nothing more than council doing due diligence for an expense line item to the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie," he said.
"I don't want in any way, shape or form to downplay the importance of the police service within our community or the importance of the job everyone within the police service does."
Spina said despite that, the cost of the city police force makes up 27 per cent of the municipal budget and a provincial report shows it works out to $463 per ratepayer in the Sault.
"The provincial average is $277," he said. "So we're paying a significant amount more in Sault Ste. Marie."
Several municipalities in northeastern Ontario have explored the option of switching over to the Ontario Provincial Police service or made the change.
North Bay city council had a similar debate in 2018, but decided not to explore the change further. West Nipissing, Espanola and Temiskaming Shores have disbanded their local police and hired OPP in recent years.
Sault city councillor Sandra Hollingsworth said she had concerns about the cost of switching to the provincial police.
"OPP is catching some towns by surprise, leaving one mayor feeling shocked and disgusted," she said.
"All OPP costs are up. The mayor of Russell Township said to CBC that his bill from OPP went from $2.3 million in 2023 to roughly $2.8 million in 2024."
But councillor Angela Caputo said the cost of the municipal police force is on the rise as well.
"In my time on council alone, we've seen the police budget grow by over 30 per cent," she said.
"Getting a price doesn't mean we have to go ahead with it. But I think that at this point, I am very much in favour of getting the costing and seeing what comes from that."
A Canadian man wanted for more than a year in connection with a massive grandparent scam has been arrested in Nicaragua.
Charlottetown police have arrested a man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant in connection with a homicide investigation in Edmonton.
Prime Minister Mark Carney had pointed words for the head of Canada's largest airline early Wednesday, saying the Air Canada CEO's unilingual message of condolences to those affected by the recent deadly crash showed a "lack of judgment" and "a lack of compassion."
Hotels in Newfoundland and Labrador are being trained to recognize human trafficking — criminal activity that officials say despite a lack of cases, is in fact present in the province.
The Nova Scotia Energy Board has approved Nova Scotia Power’s application to raise rates, but not by as much as the company wanted.
New Brunswick's tourism department officially unveiled a new artificial intelligence chatbot to help tourists plan their trip here.
The province is planning to temporarily remove Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) for buyers of new homes.
Winter can be tough to bear. Even more so if you’re homeless.
Two future national First Nations leaders, a deputy premier and a city councillor are among the prominent Manitobans who appear in declassified intelligence files from years of RCMP spying on the Indigenous rights movement in the Cold War era.
Saskatoon city hall administration is planning to "refresh" the funding strategy for the proposed $1.2-billion downtown arena district amid a lack of commitments from higher levels of government.
A report of fraud tied to a walleye derby is under investigation after Montreal Lake Cree Nation said a participant allegedly violated derby rules and was asked to leave the fishing area.
An Edmonton architectural firm says it is in talks with the provincial government to potentially redevelop the former Royal Alberta Museum.
Does junior football have a future in Prince George?