B.C. RCMP deputy commissioner Brenda Butterworth-Carr speaks to the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, Friday, June 15, 2018.

(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

KELOWNA - West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater took the opportunity today to push for a better deal on police costs from B.C. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Brenda Butterworth-Carr.

“Our concern is the financial cost of the RCMP to a young municipality,” Findlater told the commissioner, who heads the RCMP in B.C. “Although we are not tiny."

Findlater said his city of 33,000 is grouped in with Big White and the Westbank First Nation as part of rural coverage.

“We’re concerned about the equity between the provincial detachment which looks after an urban First Nations reserve and Big White and the municipal force,” Findlater told the commissioner, who was keynote speaker at a Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Luncheon.

Findlater also took the opportunity to mention the annual RCMP budget and the surprises it can contain plus the looming possibility of RCMP unionization and its financial unknowns.

“Down the line, unionization of RCMP is a bit of an elephant in the room,” the mayor added.

For her part, Butterworth-Carr acknowledged the mayor’s concerns and said the province as a whole is short of RCMP officers and support staff.

“We know we need at least another 400 resources within the province,” the commissioner said.

She has asked for 106 for this year but has yet to receive confirmation.

The commissioner told Findlater new staff, should they be funded, would be allocated to areas of “provincial responsibility” such as rural policing. She said West Kelowna has been recognized as an area of concern.

She also said RCMP would continue to work closely with B.C. municipalities to address budget problems arising from possible unionization.

To contact a reporter for this story, email John McDonald or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2018