The future of the Owen Sound jail is still up in the air.
Neither the City nor Grey County have heard from the province regarding what will happen.
The province must give six months notice to the county if it intends to cancel its lease prior to its expiry in 2013.
It was thought a defeat of the Liberal government would result in a reprieve for the jail, as well as for the jail in Walkerton, but the Liberals were returned to power in last month’s election, with a minority.
It’s unlikely the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP will team up to bring down the government over any issue, much less two jails in rural Ontario, which means the Liberal plan to close the jails can proceed.
But the Liberals have yet to go ahead with that plan. Initially, the plan was to close the jails by the end of this year.
But County Housing Manager Rod Wyatt says no news from the province is not necessarily good news.
He says the province could still close the jails but continue to pay rent under the terms of the lease.
Wyatt says the Owen Sound facility will revert to ownership by the city if and when it closes and is no longer being used as a jail.
Owen Sound Mayor Deb Haswell says she has attempted several times recently to contact assistant deputy minister Steve Small of the correctional services ministry.
She says enough time has passed since the election for the government to make known what is going to happen and when, so the city is pushing ahead to find out.
But she acknowledges it’s likely the facility will soon close as employees have already begun to transfer to other jails in anticipation of this.
Haswell also says there are no plans for the jail if and when it returns to city ownership.
