New Brunswick's public safety minister says he has been assured by his federal counterpart that convicted killer Allan Legere is safely being held in a maximum security prison in Alberta.
Stephen Horsman said he spoke with federal Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney by phone Thursday about the issue after the provincial Opposition raised it the day before.
"He's assured me and I want to assure the people of the Miramichi that this person is locked away safely in a federal maximum-security prison," Horsman said.
For the second day in a row, Horsman faced calls from the Progressive Conservatives to do what he can to reverse Legere's recent transfer from a super-maximum security unit at a prison in Ste.-Anne-des-Plaines in Quebec.
According to Correctional Service Canada, the facility provides added levels of security including limited contact between inmates and staff.
Bruce Northrup, the Tory public safety critic, said people in the Miramichi area are living in fear because of Legere's transfer and he's not comfortable with him being held at the prison in Alberta.
"It's not as maximum as the one in Quebec," Northrup said.
In 1989, Legere was being held in a maximum security prison in New Brunswick for the murder of shopkeeper John Glendenning but he escaped while on a hospital visit in Moncton.
In the seven months he was on the loose, Legere killed three women and a priest.
Horsman said he was a young police officer in Fredericton at the time and knows the terror that was felt across the province.
"He is put away. He is not getting out," Horsman said.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.