The Alberta government has introduced a new funding model for municipalities with respect to policing services. Rural and municipal policing have inherent pain points that will never be resolved: there are only so many officers for remote regions, only so much money to go around, and that reality isn’t changing.
In my September 2024 blog, STOP Treating Tickets as a Cost of Doing Business, I talked about Alberta’s shifting enforcement landscape. Between the RCMP, sheriffs, bylaw officers, peace officers, the new Border Interdiction Team, and independent city police services, Alberta is crawling with new enforcement. Edmonton and Calgary both have dedicated commercial vehicle divisions with fully trained CVSA officers. The Interdiction Patrol Team has helicopters, drones, dogs, and guns.
All of this is very expensive. Calgary and Edmonton are tens of millions of dollars short in their policing budgets because of lost photo radar revenue — thanks for that, Maple MAGA Dreeshen.
How Police in Alberta Are Currently Funded
Short answer: It’s complicated.
1. Municipal Police Services (e.g., Calgary Police, Edmonton Police)
Funded primarily by municipal taxes, not the province or feds.
Main sources:
👉 Bottom line: Calgary Police and Edmonton Police are paid for by their cities, not by higher levels of government.
2. Provincial Police (RCMP contract policing in rural Alberta)
Funding split:
RCMP covers rural areas, small towns, and provincial highways.
3. Federal RCMP Units
Entirely funded by the federal government.
They handle national security, organized crime, border integrity, and financial crimes.
Municipalities do not pay for this.
The New Alberta Funding Model (April 2026)
Beginning April 1 2026, municipalities will pay a larger share of their own policing — without raising property taxes.
And how exactly do you think they’ll pull that off?
Commercial vehicles.
Because commercial vehicle enforcement is the most reliable revenue generator in the game.
Violations are endless:
And remember, if a driver is overweight on multiple axles, an officer can ticket each axle separately, plus the overall weight. LinkedIn is full of officers proudly posting ticket stats adding up to thousands of dollars.
Throw in a few ELD violations and your town might finally be able to afford the armoured vehicle or tactical team the chief has been dreaming about.
Most carriers don’t fight tickets because:
The government knows this.
It’s one reason some officers like to “pile on” violations — issuing multiple tickets for essentially the same offence under different regulations.
And when that well starts to dry up, there’s always the “chicken tickets”: tint, exhaust, and the Wetaskiwin special — obscured or faded licence plate under TSA AR320/2002 s.71(1).
Alberta had an entire bad batch of plates for a decade. Instead of issuing a warning and a notice to replace the plate, the province quietly posted a notice on its website… and let enforcement go wild writing tickets for it.
What Wetaskiwin Has to Say
Josh Bishop, Reeve of Wetaskiwin County, said:
“We appreciate the government’s commitment to freeze the police funding model rate and consult with municipalities. The proposed five-year transition provides the budget predictability municipalities require. This approach acknowledges the increased costs of policing and allows us time to adjust without forcing immediate, severe tax hikes on our residents.”
Of course he appreciates it — Wetaskiwin has more shitty plates than anywhere else in Alberta from the number of tickets they write. They can ride that revenue wave all the way into the sunset.
And Don’t Forget the Coming Alberta Police Force
The pressure on commercial carriers will only intensify when Alberta moves to its own provincial police service. Hopefully it gets a cool name like Alberta Rapid Force or The A Team.
And yes — Alberta is actively recruiting globally.
The Law Enforcement Pathway under the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program is designed to attract police officers from abroad. In 2025, 20 nomination spots were available; 11 were already filled, with more than a hundred candidates waiting.
For the Record…
I’m not anti-enforcement. I’m anti-abuse-of-power.
Commercial vehicle enforcement is necessary in Alberta and across Canada. The industry cannot and does not police itself — and when left alone, it descends into chaos, as we’ve recently seen.
Municipalities need policing revenue. Fine.
But does it really have to come from window tint and plate tickets?
How about focusing on:
But that takes actual work.
And writing 20 chicken tickets in a day is so much easier — and better for bragging rights on Snapchat.
Drivers of commercial motor vehicles are subject to roadside inspections and NSC Standard 15 audit inspections. If a driver or vehicle is placed out of service, the driver and/or carrier would be subject to a written warning, tickets and/or points on the Carrier Profile. If the non-compliance is serious the driver and/or vehicle would be placed Out Of Service (OOS) until corrected. These are considered HOS violations. Not all provinces and territories follow the Federal Contraventions Regulations (Schedule XVIII): SOR/2023-137, which means that penalties for violations can vary depending on where the violation occurs. The penalties outlined in the contravention regulations are different for the driver and carrier involved in the violation. Specifically, carrier penalties are set at double the amount of driver penalties in order to ensure that responsibility is appropriately distributed between the driver and carrier.
77 (1) A motor carrier shall ensure that each commercial vehicle that it operates is equipped with an ELD that meets the requirements of the Technical Standard and shall ensure that it is mounted in a fixed position during the operation of the commercial vehicle and is visible to the driver when the driver is in the normal driving position. Contraventions Regulations (Schedule XVIII): SOR/2023-137 suggested penalty is $1000.00.
How to avoid: Install a $20.00 magnetic cell phone holder if the ELD is on the driver’s phone and not a wired connection.
77 (7) The motor carrier shall ensure that each commercial vehicle that it operates carries an ELD information packet. Contraventions Regulations (Schedule XVIII): SOR/2023-137 suggested penalty is $600.00.
How to avoid: Ensure each CMV contains an information packet that contains; (a) a user’s manual; (b) an instruction sheet for the driver describing the data transfer mechanisms supported by the ELD and the steps required to generate and transfer the data with respect to the driver’s hours of service to an inspector; (c) an instruction sheet for the driver describing the measures to take in the event that the ELD malfunctions; and (d) a sufficient number of records of duty status to allow the driver to record the information required under section 82 for at least 15 days.
77 (8) The motor carrier shall ensure that the driver records the information related to their record of duty status and the driver is required to record that information in a complete and accurate manner.
78.1 A motor carrier shall create and maintain a system of accounts for ELDs that is in compliance with the Technical Standard and that (a) allows each driver to record their record of duty status in a distinct and personal account; and (b) provides for a distinct account for the driving time of an unidentified driver.
Technical Standard 4.1.5 Non-Authenticated Driving of a CMV
87 (1) A motor carrier shall monitor the compliance of each driver with these Regulations.
Contraventions Regulations (Schedule XVIII): SOR/2023-137 suggested penalty 77(8) is $500.00 for the driver $1000.00 for the carrier. 78.1 suggested penalty is $1000.00 for the carrier. 87(1) suggested penalty is $2000.00 for the carrier.
How to avoid: Carrier to assign all unidentified time.
Technical Standard 4.6.1 Compliance Self-Monitoring, Malfunctions and Data Diagnostic Events Table 4
86 (3) No motor carrier shall request, require or allow any person to, and no person shall, disable, deactivate, disengage, jam or otherwise block or degrade a signal transmission or reception, or re-engineer, reprogram or otherwise tamper with an ELD so that the device does not accurately record and retain the data that is required to be recorded and retained.
Contraventions Regulations (Schedule XVIII): SOR/2023-137 suggested penalty 86 (3) is $2000.00 for the carrier.
Data diagnostic events: Table 4 Technical Standard
(Code 1) Power Data Diagnostic Event: Problem ELD is not fully powered/functional within one minute of the vehicle’s engine receiving power. How to avoid: Plug the ELD in.
(Code 2) Engine Synchronization Data Diagnostic Event: Problem the ELD loses ECM connectivity to any of the required data sources and can no longer acquire updated values for the required ELD parameters within five seconds of the need. Connectivity must be maintained while the vehicle is powered on. How to avoid/ fix the connectivity where the ELD loses ECM connectivity to the required data sources, you can try the following steps:
(Code 3) Missing Required Data Elements Data Diagnostic Event: Problem there are missing data elements (like GPS location) in the ELD event record. How to avoid: Instruct drivers to input missing information when ELD prompted.
(Code 4) Data Transfer Data Diagnostic Event: Problem the internal monitoring of the data transfer test fails and is unable to send the output file data. How to correct: consult with technical support
(Code 5) Unidentified Driving Records Data Diagnostic Event: Problem there is over 30 minutes of unidentified driving time for the vehicle over the last 24 hours. Unidentified Driving Records Data Diagnostic Events will clear when the cumulative time for unidentified driving is less than 15 minutes. How to correct: Assign all unidentified driving time.
Technical Standard 4.6.1 Compliance Self-Monitoring, Malfunctions and Data Diagnostic Events Table 4
(Code P) Power Compliance Malfunction
(Code E) Engine Synchronization Malfunction
(Code L) Positioning Compliance Malfunction
(Code T) Timing Compliance Malfunction – Drivers using a smartphone as a device must disable the Automatic Time Zone Detection or Automatic Time Zone Adjustment.
(Code R) Data Recording Compliance Malfunction
(Code S) Data Transfer Compliance Malfunction
How to avoid: Malfunctions occur when Data Diagnostic Events are not corrected, fix the data, avoid the Malfunction. When a Malfunction is detected, the driver is to stop, switch to paper logs and follow the Malfunction criteria 78 (2)(3)(4).
That’s my top 5 and the easiest to avoid and correct. In my experience 75% of issues are driver training and safety officers not understanding how ELDs work. It’s not the device, the ELD records data, the ELD does not interpret what that data means. With ELDs providing a digital record of a driver’s activity it is important for carriers to recognize the level of liability that entails if your driver is involved in a serious incident.
