As noted by the article, the requirement of the RCMP to fill their contracts drains all other resources.  Surrey Detachment has exceeded the 800 member mark.  It and the other large detachments are a black hole that personnel are poured into.  The municipalities keep their RCMP contracts for one reason;  they are cheaper than their own unionized city forces.  Plus, they don't pay wages of a recruit in training as do the city forces.  The billing begins when the body shows up for work. 

On top of this, I would suggest that the cities are poorly served by the RCMP as they do not end up hiring a constable who will spend all of his/her career in that city.  Rather, they move on and are replaced by another recruit, who after 5-6 years, say "enough" and moves onto federal policing.  

The time is long past for the RCMP to move on, and for the cities/provinces to begin have policing that is tailored to match their needs, rather than Ottawa's.