Okanagan Prison Good or Bad for Summerland, Penticton, Oliver, Osoyoos? Raymond MAASKE and JNL Lynch
Okanagan prison decision
Feb 5, 2012 / 6:58 pm
The British Columbia government is getting ready to make an announcement about a new prison in the Okanagan, a Liberal member of the legislature has confirmed.
Eric Foster, the MLA for Vernon-Monashee, said he can't say anything more about the Monday visit to the community of Oliver, B.C. by Premier Christy Clark.
The provincial government announced Sunday that Clark would be in the community to make "an announcement benefiting public safety and job creation for families in the Okanagan."
Clark will be joined by Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band and Shirley Bond, minister of public safety, solicitor general and attorney general.
Bond has already said the province wants to build a new 360-cell jail in the region.
A spokesman for the premier declined to comment, but Kathy Corrigan, the NDP's critic for public safety and the solicitor general, said the announcement is a "long time coming" and "overdue."
"I'm glad to see that there apparently is going to be an announcement," she said.
Corrigan said the province's prisons are playing a game of catch-up and in some cases hold up to two times their capacity.
"That's not acceptable because what that has meant is that we have in overcrowded prisons ... a lot of volatility.," she said. "We've had attacks on guards."
Corrigan said she predicts the issue will get even worse when the federal Conservatives pass their new crime bill.
Currently before the Senate, Bill C-10 combines nine different pieces of legislation covering a wide range of issues and includes provisions for mandatory-minimum sentences.
"We're going to wait and see what resources are going to be put into this," said Corrigan. "There doesn't seem to be resources in the budget associated with the costs that are associated with the running of the prison, certainly not so far," she said.
"That's another area of concern."
Meantime, Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes said he's still in the dark about Monday's announcement, although he's been invited to lunch with the premier.
"Everybody's hoping there's going to be a big announcement, but we haven't been told anything," he said.
(The Canadian Press/CKIZ)
Okanagan Prison Good or Bad for Summerland, Penticton, Oliver, Osoyoos? Raymond MAASKE and JNL Lynch
Raymond MAASKE,BBA, CCC, ACRE, ATM-B
Summerland & Penticton, Okanagan, BC
Website: http://www.HomeStarRealty.ca
E-mail:raymond@HomeStarRealty.ca
Phone:250.488.8764
"Oh by the way... I'm never too busy for your referrals"
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