Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan warned Friday that Windsor could lose the proposed jail to another community if it does not approve rezoning of the province’s preferred site near Highway 401.

“If the city doesn’t want it, we’re not going to drag this out,” Duncan told reporters following a speech to the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce. “Other communities want it, other communities nearby.”

The city’s planning advisory committee last week voted against rezoning the 30-acre site north of the highway between Walker Road and Concession 8. Only five of the eight committee members were in attendance for the vote, which came at the end of a 71⁄2-hour meeting that stretched into the early hours of the following morning.