EDMONTON -- Premier Danielle Smith on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding with herself establishing the Royal Alberta Military Police (RAMP), a new provincial force that will replace the RCMP within Alberta's borders over an 18-month transition period the Premier described as "fully achievable, fully funded, and fully a thing we are doing."

The legislation, tabled and passed in the same afternoon, transfers all duties currently performed by the RCMP in Alberta to RAMP, along with what the bill calls "any additional responsibilities the Minister of Justice may identify in writing." Justice Minister Mickey Amery confirmed at the press conference that the additional responsibilities are not yet identified and that the writing has not yet begun.

Pressed on why the new agency contains the word "Military" -- a word that does not appear in the title of any other domestic Canadian police force -- Smith said the choice was about "resonance, not implication." She added that the province had considered calling it the Alberta Provincial Police but that internal polling had found 'Royal' tested better in focus groups and 'Military' tested better in private. Amery clarified that the word "should not be taken to mean what it usually means" and is scheduled to be reviewed in five years.

A 380-page appendix to the founding legislation, obtained by The Alberta Advantage, devotes 41 of those pages to vehicle procurement standards, including a minimum suspension lift of four inches, a factory tow rating of 35,000 lbs, and a stipulation that all fleet vehicles must be "presentation-grade matte black, no chrome, do not ask why." The remaining 339 pages cover staffing, arrest authority, and use-of-force policy, which the document refers to throughout as "the other stuff."

RAMP's newly appointed director of communications, Brock Hardiman -- a former corporate-affairs lead from a private security firm whose previous client list the province declined to share -- appeared briefly to confirm that uniforms would be "tactically branded" and that recruitment materials would emphasize "the kind of person who can answer 'what does this badge stand for' three different ways depending on who is asking."

Ottawa called the announcement "potentially unconstitutional and definitely premature," noting that policing in Alberta is currently delivered by the RCMP under a contract that runs until 2032 and cannot be unilaterally terminated. Asked about the contract, Smith said it was being "respected aggressively" and that RAMP would simply operate in parallel -- "providing a different kind of service, possibly to the same people, at the same time, in uniform-adjacent outfits." She then declined to clarify what "uniform-adjacent" meant, citing operational security.