Have you ever been nagged by someone? If so, you understand how frustrating it is.

Modesty aside, I see myself as cogent enough to need instruction only once. When I was taught to conjugate a verb, I only needed to be taught once. When I was taught to drive a standard transmission vehicle, only once. To wash laundry...well, you get my point. Once.

Exploiting the wonders of Google artificial intelligence (AI), I typed into the search engine, “How do you define a nag?”

AI responded thusly: “A ‘nag’ is defined as someone who frequently complains, criticizes, or pesters another person to do something. This behaviour is also a verb, describing the act of nagging itself, and can refer to a nagging worry or doubt that constantly annoys someone. Additionally, ‘nag’ can be used as a noun to describe an old or inferior horse.” As someone who’s somewhat skeptical about AI, I must admit that response touches pretty much all the bases.

A few years ago after radio host and former school board trustee Danielle Smith became our premier she began her quest for police. The topic of a provincial police force surfaced over the past 20 or 30 years but more in passing than anything else. However, after Smith took the reigns of this funny little muddle we call Alberta, a provincial police force was attractive enough to begin it’s own publicity tour.

Policing is generally managed by municipalities, and municipalities overwhelmingly oppose a provincial police force. Both the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (now called Alberta Munies) and the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) polled their members. I know they polled locally elected officials because I covered many of the council meetings where this topic came up and I heard few to no comments in support of provincial police, and I heard lots of official comments in support of the RCMP.In fact a 2023 online survey that was conducted through the efforts of RMA and the University of Lethbridge found the majority of respondents felt the RCMP should remain Alberta's police force and only 23 per cent were in favour of provincial police. These weren’t necessarily elected officials answering this survey but everyday Albertans speaking out.

As Smith touted the provincial police idea across Alberta the RCMP’s union, the National Police Federation (NPF), also toured and spoke directly to communities in Alberta. Representatives quoted a figure in 2021 of about $366 million in start-up costs and about $750 million in annual operating costs, so a billion bucks. The NPF made another very good point: where will Alberta get all the new police officers? There’s no guarantee RCMP officers will abandon the equity they’ve built up in their current position. Apparently, these problems have cropped up in other jurisdictions that’ve moved to independent police, most notably Surrey, B.C.

Okay, I think the reasonable people out there reading this article will see the lay of the land. So what did Danielle Smith do? The premier formed the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service, a policing option that municipalities can use “if they wish.”

Albertans, including municipalities, told Danielle Smith clearly they don’t want provincial police and want to keep the RCMP.

So what does Danielle Smith do? She goes and starts a provincial police service anyway, which suggests the value of public consultation in her mind.

Why is Danielle Smith nagging Albertans about a provincial police service? In my opinion the idea, already laid to rest by Albertans, hangs around because of Danielle Smith’s grudge against Ottawa and the federal government. Interestingly, if you check out an article on the Government of Alberta’s website titled “Alberta provincial police transition study: future state report” you will find a list of keywords related to the document, and within that list is the explanation for Danielle Smith’s incessant nagging on this and perhaps other topics:

Fair Deal Panel.

Alberta gets a raw deal from Ottawa and the federal government, has been getting a raw deal for decades and Danielle Smith is angry as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore.

Judging by Danielle Smith’s past behaviour of nagging us and ignoring public input on this topic, we will be getting a provincial force and it will cost us $1 billion, probably more. Danielle Smith better track down that 23 per cent of survey respondents who felt provincial police was the way to go and hike their property taxes to pay that bill.

Stu Salkeld is a multimedia journalist with 30 years experience who hopes this is the only time he needs to point out the stupidity of an Alberta provincial police idea.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Rural Alberta Report.