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The president of Holland College says the dispute between the Atlantic Police Academy and the Province of Nova Scotia over the legality and logistics of developing another police training facility in the Maritimes could be settled in a few days. Alex MacAulay, sitting in a small conference room across the hall from his office last Tuesday, said it doesn't look like a lawsuit filed by Holland College this summer against the Province of Nova Scotia, the City of Halifax and Bob Barrs, the former director of policing services for the Nova Scotia Justice Department, will actually make it to the courts. "I would expect in a few days," MacAulay remarked as to when a settlement could be made between the college and the province of Nova Scotia. Representatives from the college and the Nova Scotia Justice Department and the City of Halifax have been meeting over the summer months to determine how the APA can meet the requirements of the City of Halifax. Holland College has been battling the Nova Scotia government over plans to develop a new police training facility in Truro. Last winter, the APA was forced to find 10 credible recruits from other parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to run a program, when the Nova Scotia Justice Department developed a pilot police officer training course in Halifax. Holland College, according to the Charlottetown lawyer representing the college on this issue, filed the suit in an effort to speed up the negotiations between the APA and Nova Scotia officials. In an interview this summer, Eugene Rossiter, said the City of Halifax is being sued for backing out on a contract it entered to send cadets to the Summerside facility, while Barrs and the Province of Nova Scotia are being sued for the Nova Scotia Justice Department's role in luring the City of Halifax into breaking that contract. There is an agreement between the four Atlantic provinces in which all police cadets in the region are to be trained by the APA, while training agriculture students, for instance, is the responsibility of Nova Scotia. MacAulay said the lawsuit did speed up the process and it doesn't look like the issue will be going before the courts. "What's important now is that we have negotiations at the senior level of government," MacAulay remarked. He said, like Premier Pat Binns did during the summer, the initiative to start a new police training facility in Nova Scotia was put forward by individuals within the department, not senior government officials. "Certain officials questioned the quality of the program at the Atlantic Police Academy," MacAulay said. During the summer months, Joe Ross, the executive director of the Nova Scotia Police Association, went on record as saying the Nova Scotia training facility was the initiative of one individual, namely Barrs, who has since been transferred to the Halifax Police Department. As MacAulay pointed out during the interview, both the police unions and the Chiefs of Police Association in Nova Scotia have been supporting the APA on this issue. "The Atlantic Police Academy is a quality school equal to or better than other police schools in the country," MacAulay remarked. "When people in public positions make statements that damage the reputation of the academy and the quality of the programs and services at the academy and indirectly question the performance of instructors," MacAulay continued, the Board and the executives of the college were left with little choice but to defend the reputation of the APA. The cost of implementing the lawsuit, according to MacAulay, is not significant, although he would not provide a definitive figure. "It would be significant if it went to trial," MacAulay commented.
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