Halifax taxpayers are subsidizing federal police enforcement in metro to the tune of $15 million a year, the mayor said yesterday.
Mayor Peter Kelly was in Quebec City yesterday for the Big City Mayors’ Caucus where the Federation of Canadian Municipalities released a report that said municipalities across the country are subsidizing national police costs by about $500 million a year.
He said Halifax RCMP and Halifax Regional Police spend 23 per cent of their time dealing with federal responsibilities and legislation, such as port security and drug crime enforcement.
“We believe that the federal government should be coming forward with an enhanced contribution towards those costs,” Kelly said.
Currently, the feds are providing nothing to municipalities to cover federal police enforcement. The mayors are asking Ottawa to pony up at least 10 per cent to start with and eventually to reflect actual demand.
