St. John’s, NL (May 9, 2025) – Barry Petten, PC Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and MHA for Conception Bay South, today spoke out after hearing the Liberals’ latest commentary regarding the replacement of Her Majesty’s Penitentiary (HMP).

Petten was reacting to comments from Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Fred Hutton who said there will be another announcement in a couple of weeks.

“We have had a decade of photo ops, announcements and re-announcements about the HMP’s replacement.  How many more years will inmates and staff have to wait for a new facility?” asked Petten. “Site remediation was done in 2022 and the Liberal government has had money in the bank from the federal government since 2023-24 to build a new one.”

Petten noted comments about the new HMP made by the Premier-designate in the House of Assembly on June 14, 2021 when he was Minister of Justice were very clear: “I very much look forward to assisting with that.  The project, for the record, remains on scheduled for construction to begin in 2022 with a goal to complete it by 2024-25.”

“This simply did not happen. Construction hasn’t even started yet,” said Petten. Premier-designate Hogan was the Minister of Justice for almost three years and failed to advance the most critical project in his department. There is still not a shovel in the ground after 10 years of Liberal government – the replacement of HMP has become a joke.”

Petten added: “It is disgraceful that the Liberals have waited for another election year to re-announce this badly needed project.  Rather than playing politics, the new Premier should explain his failure to get this project done as he promised.”