FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2025
(Calgary) Calgary is less safe than it was a decade ago, and Communities First (CF) candidates in the October election are pledging to act by proposing major new investments focused on strengthening the Calgary Police Service (CPS).
Their plan calls for additional municipal funding, policy changes at the City and Calgary Police Commission, and a request to select a “take action” chief that builds on the proactive direction taken by the current interim chief.
Budget investments
Over the past decade, Calgary’s “cop-to-pop” ratio has declined significantly. According to 2023 Statistics Canada data, Calgary is among the country’s least protected big cities, with 153.1 officers per 100,000 residents compared to the national average of 178.2. In 2024, the ratio further slipped to 147.7.
“Over the past decade, a succession of councils and commissions have been quietly ‘defunding’ the police. Their budgets have been eroding relative to the rest of the City Administration, and that needs to be addressed,” said CF Mayoral Candidate Sonya Sharp. “Our goal should be bringing that ratio of officers-to-population back up and be in the top five in cities in Canada and at least maintaining the national average. That’s where we used to be, and that’s the direction the new Council needs to send.”
It has been estimated that to reach the national average of 178.2 officers per 100,000 residents, an additional 487 officers would need to be added to the force, exceeding the currently budgeted strength. CF candidates recognize that prioritizing policing and other protective services will be a challenging budget exercise and won’t happen overnight. “Our job will be to go through the City’s budget with a fine-toothed comb in the next four-year cycle, assess what are our core priorities versus the ones that aren’t and reallocate the funding accordingly,” said Ward 10 CF candidate Andre Chabot. “Our goal is to squeeze every nickel in non-core services in the operating budget to make these investments without impacting taxpayers.”
City Administration has grown at about three times the rate of the Calgary Police Service since 2021, according to the Chief Administrator Officer’s 2024 Year-End Report. Additionally, the last Council (that included mayoral candidates Jyoti Gondek and Jeromy Farkas) oversaw the closure of the Victoria Park police station. The last time a new station was opened in Calgary was in Saddle Ridge in 2010.
“As I’m going through the next four-year operating budget, the question I’ll be asking Administration on questionable item spending is ‘How many police officers would that buy? How many firefighters? Do we need another police station?’ Budgets are all about priorities, and protective services are a top priority. Given the scope of the issue, it’s likely going to take two four-year budget cycles to meet this goal,” added Sharp.
Developing an attraction, training, and retention plan
In the not-so-distant past, Calgary routinely received more applications for police academy training than could be accommodated, whereas today, CPS often struggles to fill classes. In addition to not being able to replenish through recruitment, the service is facing significant challenges in “retireable” members and poaching from other policing agencies.
“Our police service has a cadre of highly qualified members,” said Ward 7 CF candidate and Member of the Calgary Police Commission Terry Wong. “But Communities First will let the service know Calgarians and our small and mid-size businesses need stronger and available front-line service in the immediate and near-term future. We will aid the recently appointed interim police chief and the commission to send the right signals to City Administration that funding needs to be reallocated to where it’s needed most, and that’s to public safety and other core services like CPS.”
Part of the CF strategy includes identifying staffing in the protective services as priority budget area for the City’s labour relations group.
Respecting the Calgary Police Commission and police chief
One of the challenges facing municipal politicians in bolstering policing is the complexities of the Police Act. Communities First candidates are mindful and respectful of their limitations as elected officials but intend to utilize the tools at their disposal to deliver on this strategy.
“We can’t tell the police chief or the commission what to do, by law. That’s a good thing. The last thing you’d want to do is have politicians running policing. But we do make appointments to the commission, and we do control the budget, and that’s our power of persuasion,” said Sharp. “We need to appoint qualified people to the commission who understand their role in governance and oversight and share our desire to rebuild the force. We need an action-oriented chief constable focused on rebuilding morale and the ranks, who’s open to Council saying, ‘bring us a good plan, and we’ll find you the money.’”
Communities First commends Interim Chief Katie McLellan for the actions she’s taken in a short time within current budget and recruitment restraints.
This is one of several platform commitments that CF candidates will offer voters this campaign. Stay tuned for more information on their plans to improve transit and downtown safety.
Download the full policy here.
Appendix: Relative police force strengths
(Source: Statistics Canada, 2023)
| City | Police officers per 100,000 residents in 2023 |
| NATIONAL AVERAGE | 178.2 |
| Edmonton | 177.9 |
| Vancouver | 184.1 |
| Regina | 184.2 |
| Toronto | 167.8 |
| Winnipeg | 172.9 |
| Montreal | 221.1 |
| Calgary | 153.1 |
| Calgary 2024 | 147.7 |
