OTTAWA - There appears to be a new tone in RCMP contract talks between Canada's provinces and the federal government just weeks after the federal government issued an ultimatum to sign a deal or lose the RCMP.
Langley, B.C., Mayor Peter Fassbender, who observing the RCMP contract talks on behalf of the provincial mayors, says there's now a climate of co-operation in the Ottawa negotiations.
Fassbender says all parties came to the table Tuesday ready to work hard and find a solution.
In September, several provinces revealed that the federal government had threatened to pull the RCMP out of the province in 2014 if a new 20-year contract wasn't signed by the end of November.
Issues such as rising costs and accountability to local communities have divided the provincial and federal governments.
The RCMP have policed much of B.C. since August 1950 when the Mounties took over the job from the disbanded B.C. Provincial Police.
