The Ontario government is opening nine new OPP detachments.
One of them is going to be in Parry Sound. That announcement was made today.
The government says the decision was made so that “communities can continue to receive modern, cost-efficient and high-quality police services essential to public safety.” The cost to build all nine stations has a price tag of $182 million, with the one in Parry Sound coming in around $20 million.
Michael Tibollo, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, says the government got a quote to have all nine stations built simultaneously because it believed that would be a cost-saving tactic. Bird Construction Inc. has been awarded the contract to design, build and finance the new OPP detachments.
Tibollo says the new detachments are part of the Progressive Conservative government’s commitment to public safety by ensuring police have “the tools they need to provide the appropriate services to the community.” He calls the conditions at the current Parry Sound detachment “deplorable.”
The government says the new detachments will all be state-of-the-art and standardized, meaning they’ll all share the same basic design.
The other new detachments will be built in Moosonee, Fort Frances, Hawkesbury, Huron County, Manitoulin Island, Port Credit (Mississauga), Marathon and Orillia and will replace facilities at the end of what the government calls their “useful lifespan.”
Construction is expected to start this fall with most of the buildings finished by late 2020.