Does N.B. need a new $32-million jail? Province won't release records explaining decision
CBC
The New Brunswick government is withholding records that could explain its decision to spend $32 million building a new jail in the Fredericton region, a facility that two criminologists say won't make the city any safer.
The province announced plans to build a 109-bed jail last December, setting aside $2.5 million in the 2022-23 capital budget to plan and design the new building, and acquire the land where it will be built.
Construction is expected to begin in 2023-24.
In a news release announcing the project, then-public safety minister Ted Flemming said the system is "stretched" to capacity and that "crimes requiring incarceration have been trending up, including trafficking, production and distribution of controlled substances."
CBC News filed an access to information request to the Department of Justice and Public Safety, asking for records that detail the need for a new correctional centre, including records that discuss the business case for a new jail.
The request also asked for records detailing capacity issues within the current system.
But the department is withholding all of those records, including briefing materials about the proposed new jail, arguing they could reveal "advice, opinions, proposals or recommendations developed by or for the public body or a Minister of the Crown."
CBC has filed an appeal with the Ombud's office, which handles access to information appeals in the province.
It's the latest example of the government refusing to provide records that would show how it reached major decisions, and what kind of data it relied upon in the process.
Last month, Premier Blaine Higgs told CBC that he doesn't think it's realistic for him to write down details of all of the discussions he has with people, even if those discussions are key to understanding how decisions are made.
A week later, the premier also acknowledged he said "data my ass" when former education minister Dominic Cardy presented what Higgs considered to be "irrelevant" numbers on French second-language education.
In his resignation letter, Cardy said Higgs yelled the phrase at a senior civil servant because he didn't like what the figures showed.
While speaking to reporters about crime on Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Kris Austin suggested anecdotes he's hearing about crime carry more weight than crime data.
"The problem we're having with the data is the data is not accurately relaying what we're seeing on the ground, and what we know. What we're hearing from municipal police forces, from RCMP, from mayors, from councillors, from residents."
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Fifty years after Steven Spielberg's Jaws set the template for the Hollywood summer blockbuster movie, the spectre of a great white shark attack still looms over anyone who goes swimming in the sea.
Construction related to Hamilton's Light Rail Transit (LRT) project will see the full closure of a major downtown intersection for three days next week.
A 60-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder after a woman who was reported missing was found dead near Highway 401 in Pickering days later, Toronto police say.
CBC's Island Morning is launching a new summer feature, speaking to different tour guides around Prince Edward Island about the tours they give and why you should take them.
As federal dental care expands to cover most uninsured Canadians, providers say some procedures are being bogged down by paperwork and processing delays.
Chad Anderson had travelled 90 minutes from his farm near Cremona, Alta., to bend the premier's ear, but it was starting to look futile.
Canada continues to see an alarming rise in measles cases in 2025.
The City of Toronto is at risk of losing $30 million in federal housing funding after city council voted last month against allowing sixplexes citywide, a key condition of its deal with Ottawa.
Residents of Happy Valley-Goose Bay are experiencing a power outage, after teams witnessed arcing on a piece of equipment, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro spokesperson Jill Pitcher said.
A restored replica of the square-rigged sailing ship that sparked a wave of Scottish immigration to Nova Scotia more than 250 years ago was relaunched Saturday with a mighty splash into Pictou harbour.
Austin Ola-Daniels was making the most of his Saturday morning, browsing the stalls at his local farmer's market in east end Montreal.
Garden Hill Anisininew Nation leaders are calling on all levels of government to help secure hotel rooms for hundreds of wildfire evacuees as a congregate shelter in Winnipeg became crowded on Saturday and northern Manitoba wildfires threatened their homes and the health of those still waiting to get out.
So far this year, 17 tornadoes have touched down in Saskatchewan, according to a Western University-based tornado tracking project — 10 of which hit the province in a single day.