A s more Albertans turn to their cellphones to report an emergency, the provincial government has begun a sweeping review to determine whether it should charge a 911 fee to help finance municipal dispatch centres.
Most provinces mandate a monthly 911 fee on cells, ranging from 40 cents in Quebec to 62 cents in Saskatchewan.
While Albertans pay 44 cents monthly on their land-line bills to help fund local emergency call centres -- a nationwide tariff required by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission --
911 fees collected by some cellphone service providers are kept by companies.
The money does not filter to municipalities in this province.
The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association has been lobbying the Stelmach government to address this gap; so has the City of Calgary.
"Anything that we can do to encourage sustainable funding for public safety in the province is something that's desirable," said Steve Dongworth, manager of Calgary's public safety communications centre.
A provincial review of the issue is underway, led by the Municipal Affairs department.
The probe involves about nine government departments and, although the review began last fall, it remains in its early stages, said Municipal Affairs Minister Hector Goudreau.