The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Derrick Bragg, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure:

Mr. Speaker, today I’d like to provide this Honourable House with an update on a very important construction project being led by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

In August 2019, we awarded a $6.1 million contract to Brook Construction to construct a protective care unit extension at the Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Centre in Botwood.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that construction is nearing completion and we anticipate the extension opening in early 2021.

The new extension has rooms for 20 residents, a lounge, and a nursing station. Work also included a wander garden, new asphalt, and landscaping around the extension.

And this work is also being completed by local workers.

Our loved ones and family members sometimes require protective care residences at our healthcare facilities and our government is proud to be able to provide that space so residents in central Newfoundland can receive the care they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, last winter, we were happy to see the construction of the long-term care home completed in Corner Brook and long-term care homes in Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor are on schedule to be completed next spring.

These long-term care homes, combined with this protective care unit, the mental health care unit in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and of course, the new hospital in Corner Brook and the new adult mental health and addictions hospital in St. John’s are resulting in Newfoundlanders and Labradorians receiving excellent care in excellent facilities.

Thank you Mr. Speaker.