That a new provincial jail will not be built in this area is by no means a dying issue. With the NDP content to roll over this region and truck the project closer to Pictou, at stake is not the loss of job creation and economic spinoffs the jail promised but the caliber of our sitting government.
Since taking office, the NDP have remained coy and evasive with the facts behind their decision to build one super jail in the middle of Nova Scotia instead of two at opposite ends of the province. Nothing in the way of reports or studies have been offered to the public.
Instead, Minister of Justice Ross Landry, Premier Darrell Dexter and most of the NDP have trumpeted it is cheaper to build and operate one super jail instead of two jails.
It's also cheaper to buy one apple instead of two oranges.
Until the government hands out its corroborating evidence for making its decision all we can really do is speculate on what motives lead the Minister to go back on a commitment to this area.
No amount of spin can ever be as effective as truth and somewhere in the annals of the NDP office should be documentation that backs up the government. If not, then this series of unfortunate events speak volumes for the caliber of the NDP and the remaining four years of its term.
The premier would have done well to differ any comment on the jail decision to those already making them, such as Minister Landry, but by becoming involded last week he will have to stand alongside his colleagues and hope they're doing the best job they can and have the providence to back them up because, at this junction, it is not just Cumberland County that is watching the government's every move but all of Nova Scotia.
That the NDP brought about an end to the jail project so quickly into office is highly supicious. They need to follow up on their commitments to transparent government and accountability before these, too, are added to the list of broken campaign promises.
A growing list of displeasure
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Published on
December 16, 2009
- Published on March 8, 2010
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