There will be no more extensions for communities who are still on the fence over signing the new RCMP contract.
That according to Justice Minister Shirley Bond who says she has been in contact with hold out mayors.
“It is a pretty simple message the Police act requires that there be a police contract in place to assure municipalities that there is a police force we have made that clear to those municipalities and they would have in the interim if they are looking to move away from the RCMP I would need to assured that they have a police plan in place.”
Bond says a handful of hold out communities will either ratify or tell her what policing option they will be going with
“Municipalities will make choices about their policing you can’t decide to change your police force overnight so at the end of June we need to be assured that the municipalities who haven’t made a decision are in compliance with the police act.”
Bond says municipalities are free to pursue options to the RCMP, after they ratify the deal.
“So certainly one of the options for the municipalities who are contemplating an alternative model to the RCMP would sign their RCMP contract and then indicate whether or not at some point in the future they would like to opt out after they have done the homework about another alternative police force.”
The latest deadline extension runs out at the end of June and Bond says to date 53 of 62 communities have ratified the deal.
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