The City of Burnaby is not backing down from its years-long battle with the federal government over policing costs related to Trans Mountain pipeline protests.
The city’s leadership has long argued it shouldn’t have to pay the Burnaby RCMP for its overtime and operational costs incurred while keeping order at local rallies against the expansion of the pipeline.
Protesters have gathered regularly near the pipeline’s tank farm on Burnaby Mountain and near its Westridge terminal since 2014, when crews started survey work for the proposed expansion.
The city owes the Burnaby RCMP $1.2 million for policing protests up until March 2018, Cpl. Daniella Panesar told the NOW in January. Costs incurred since then, including for near-daily protests in the summer of 2018, had not yet been calculated, she said.
An RCMP spokesperson, Sgt. Janelle Shoihet, did not respond directly to the NOW’s questions (including a request for an update on the bill total) on Wednesday, saying municipal, provincial and federal governments “have dispute resolution mechanisms in place to address such issues.”
“The RCMP is the service provider and not involved in the dispute relating to the costs,” she said.
Former Mayor Derek Corrigan refused to pay the growing policing bill, arguing it should fall to the former owner, Kinder Morgan. When the federal government bought the project in 2018, he said it should pay.
Burnaby’s new mayor, Mike Hurley, has taken up the effort, pushing the issue with the country’s public safety minister and directly with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – but Hurley appears to have also been unsuccessful.
Now the city has enlisted the support of a federal politician to pressure the governing Liberals. Coun. Sav Dhaliwal was joined Wednesday by New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian at a press conference raising the policing costs issue once more.
The NDP MP said he had written to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, asking he cover the bill.
Julian said the federal government should pay the policing costs because it approved the controversial pipeline expansion and should cover all associated costs, including the resulting protests.
“For the federal government to not pay those costs is highly irresponsible,” he said. “The federal government has made a bad decision. They shouldn't be sticking the citizens of Burnaby with the bill.”
The ministry of public safety did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Wednesday, but, in January, a spokesperson said Burnaby had to pay 90 per cent of “costs associated with maintaining law and order in the City of Burnaby resulting from incidents, including demonstrations.”
According to Dhaliwal, the RCMP has informed the city that its total Trans Mountain protest policing bill is now approximately $1.8 million.
“We are not about to pay,” he said.
Dhaliwal said local taxpayers shouldn’t be burdened with a policing bill that is not related to everyday life in the city. But, he said, the city’s dispute is not with the Burnaby RCMP, who have a right to demand the money they’re owed for services rendered.
“RCMP shouldn’t be part of this standoff,” Dhaliwal said.
Asked whether the city would accept an offer from the feds to pay for part of the bill, he said, “No, we're not paying a penny of these costs.”
