PRDC executive director Gerald Gabriel outlines the benefits of a correctional facility in Pictou County With him is facilitator Michelle Ferris.

The Pictou Regional Development Commission is ready to help promote a location for a new jail in Pictou County, executive director Gerald Gabriel says.
“We’re prepared to work with any municipality to work up a case for building the new correctional facility there,” Gabriel said during a media briefing Tuesday at Summer Street Industries. “We’re here to help.”
Pictou County’s six municipalities have expressed support for building the facility anywhere in the county.
“That would be the best approach,” Gabriel said, responding to a question about the merits of all six local municipalities getting behind support for one site.
Some units, such as the Town of New Glasgow, will not be bidding for the facility but have endorsed in principle the opportunity to build it here.
“New Glasgow does not have suitable land for it but council has approved building it in Pictou County,” Mayor Barrie MacMillan told the gathering.
Meanwhile, Pictou East MLA Clarrie MacKinnon said Westville Town Council has offered five potential sites for the facility.
“I personally will celebrate where ever it goes in Pictou County,” said MacKinnon, who lives in Westville.
The six municipalities are responding to Justice Minister Ross Landry’s announcement that one facility will be constructed to replace two aging jails in Amherst and Antigonish as a cost cutting measure.
The previous MacDonald government announced two replacements before it was defeated by the NDP under Premier Darrell Dexter in last June’s general election.
Gabriel said he is aware but not concerned about a letter campaign by Truro to build the new correctional facility there.
“You don’t have to be the hare to win the race,” Gabriel said. “Truro can write all the letters it wants, but what I want is an impact statement I can point to that outlines the benefits of building the facility in Pictou County.”
During his presentation, Gabriel shared the benefits of the new correctional facility during its construction and operating phases, as well as the relocation and settlement of staff.
The facility’s price tag is $31.5 million, with construction starting next spring and completed by mid 2012.
A land mass of up to 50 acres is being sought for the facility, which would be built to LEED gold standard and comply with the province’s buy local policy
The facility will have 100 cells and create up to 200 jobs.
Its annual operating budget will be from $10 million to $12 million, with 80 per cent of it representing salaries.
Estimated goods and services requirements total up to $2 million.
“That’s a significant amount of what would be annual business,” Gabriel said. “It is clear that an investment of this nature in Pictou County has both short and long-term economic benefits.”