SPRINGHILL - Cumberland South's NDP champion threw in his orange towel yesterday in protest of the provincial government's decision to knock out the area from consideration for a 100-cell provincial jail.
In a signed letter to local media, Don Tabor revealed he is now the former riding president and roasted the NDP for upholding the "old style of politics," and not delivering a better deal for Nova Scotians as promised during the election.
In April, the previous Conservative government announced Springhill was the site for a new jail to replace the aging facility in Amherst while the site for replacing the Antigonish jail was a work in progress.
After the NDP took power, however, the Dexter government scrapped $18 millon from its budget for the jail and Justice Minister Ross Landry announced his department was reviewing the decision.
Landry made it official last week neither Springhill nor Amherst will get the jail and only a single, 100-cell jail will be built somewhere centrally located between the New Brunswick border and Antigonish.
"When he was campaigning for the election, Premier Dexter assured us that he would be honouring all the commitments previously announced by the MacDonald government," Tabor wrote. "Confident with his assurance I in turn conveyed that confidence and assurance to the constituents of Cumberland South.
"I too feel betrayed and disillusioned by the news that we are not going to see the new facility constructed here."
Tabor says he started to receive calls from concerned citizens when the jail was put into question and, privately, he has taken steps to ensure his NDP colleagues are aware of his disappointment and is calling on the citizenry to unify behind the issue and write to their MLAs, the premier and federal MP to express their dissatisfaction.
