Bruce County is continuing its advocacy of the Ontario government over court security costs.
Last year, the province downloaded the costs for court security and prisoner transportation to the communities that host provincial courts.
In February, Bruce County agreed to help the Municipality of Brockton, which is home to the Walkerton Courthouse.
Brockton had approached the county asking for $250,000 in funding to cover the expense of court security and prisoner transportation.
During Thursday’s County Council meeting, the county received correspondence from Brockton outlining those expenses were higher, totalling $366,768 for 2025.
Councillor Chris Peabody, who is the Mayor of Brockton, said that they had expected the cost to be higher than initially estimated.
“From the county side, it’s significantly higher than we had thought, although when we voted on this, I did warn council that it could be higher. Unfortunately, our lobbying to the Solicitor General didn’t work, and it fell of deaf ears.”
Peabody went on to mention that the reason the security costs were higher than initially expected due to the age and condition of the current courthouse building.
“The portion that now the county and Walkerton are having to pay for this is significantly higher than in other counties due to the dilapidated condition of our courthouse, so on that note, I met with [MPP] Lisa Thompson … and the Walkerton CAO on the Brockton side and hopefully the county side I’m going to make sure that we advocate for a new courthouse, because the approach for the enhanced funding for security isn’t working with [Solicitor General of Ontario] Minister [Michael] Kerzner.”
He added that he had to explain to the MPP for Huron-Bruce because the Walkerton Courthouse was not up to modern-day standards due to the building’s age.
While discussing options for how best to advocate to the province, Councillor Jay Kirkland asked if it was possible to add a building assessment report that outlined the total cost to bring the courthouse up to scratch, or otherwise inform the province that a new courthouse was needed.
Warden Luke Charbonneau said that he would be willing to tell the provincial government that a local courthouse was absolutely necessary, but that it should also be entirely funded by the Province of Ontario.
“I think that that’s a conversation we need to have through our advocacy with the province. Because really, this is a provincial service, and a provincial priority. The County of Bruce shouldn’t be — or even the Municipality of Brockton shouldn’t be — bearing the cost of even assessing the condition of the building, let alone building a new one,” said Charbonneau. “These costs should be provincial costs, borne by the province, and I think that’s the message we should be taking to the Solicitor General and saying, ‘Look, this building is out of date, and it’s you, Province of Ontario, [who] should assess its condition and you, Province of Ontario, [who] should decide what needs to be done next. And our position is whatever you choose to do with it had better be here in Bruce County, it’d better be here in Brockton. That’s our position. It needs to be a courthouse in Brockton, and the province needs to pay for it.”
To wrap up discussion, Councillor Mark Goetz added one final comment: “I listened to Premier Ford [April 30th] make the comment that he’s going to get tough on crime, so I guess somebody should send the message [that] we’re going to need a building to do it in.”
