Mickey Amery

The Alberta Provincial Police has been studied and discussed for years now under Mickey Amery's watch and the UCP government's leadership, and the result so far is more study than police force. The idea that Alberta should control its own policing isn't inherently wrong — there are legitimate frustrations with RCMP governance that Alberta shares with other provinces. But the cost, timeline, and community opposition in rural Alberta have made the transition harder than the initial enthusiasm suggested. Meanwhile, First Nations policing in Alberta remains chronically underfunded and underresourced — a file where provincial action is actually needed and where the political attention seems to go elsewhere. Policing policy should be evaluated on whether it works for everyone, not just the communities with political voice.

Mickey Amery serves as Alberta's Minister of Justice and Solicitor General under Danielle Smith — a portfolio that reflects the province's persistent emphasis on criminal justice, policing, and public safety as core political concerns. Alberta's UCP government has been an advocate for a provincial police force to replace the RCMP contract policing arrangement — a proposal driven by a combination of genuine frustrations with federal RCMP governance and a political desire to assert provincial jurisdiction over law enforcement. The Alberta Provincial Police proposal has been studied, costed, and debated extensively without reaching a final resolution — the costs of transition are significant, the timeline is long, and public opinion in rural Alberta, which would bear much of the cost and service disruption, has been more divided than the initial political enthusiasm for the idea suggested. Amery has also managed the portfolio's relationship with First Nations policing — an area where the underfunding and structural inadequacy of policing on reserves reflects decades of federal failure that Alberta's provincial posture doesn't do much to address. The justice files that generate the most political attention (violent crime, drugs, property crime in cities) are not the files where provincial action is most needed from an equity standpoint. His record is consistent with the UCP government's priorities without being distinctively shaped by his own contribution beyond implementing those priorities competently.