Ontario mayor warns against turning notorious Canadian prison into homes [Video]

The mayor of an Ontario city home to one of Canada’s most notorious prisons says converting it one day into housing could eat at its economy.

Bryan Paterson told Global News that while Kingston does have housing needs, transforming the site of Kingston Penitentiary – which Ottawa says can be suitable for housing – would be a loss for the city’s finances.

“This particular property has huge benefits for tourism and film, and we want to make sure that isn’t impacted,” he said.

“We’re always happy to have more discussions about opportunities for housing, but again, there are lots of other federal government properties that we think would be great candidates for.”

Paterson’s comments come after the federal government publicly revealed Thursday that Kingston Pen – a former maximum-security prison that has held infamous criminals like Paul Bernardo – has the potential to become housing.

Ottawa added the site, which operated as a jailhouse for 178 years, to the …