Office of the Official Opposition
For Immediate Release

St. John’s, NL (June 8, 2020) – PC Official Opposition AESL Critic and MHA for Topsail-Paradise, Paul Dinn, is speaking out about the ongoing confusion about the continuation of the Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (AME) program at College of the North Atlantic (CNA) Gander Campus.

“These students are stuck in limbo as they have essentially completed the academic portion of their program since May 6 and Transport Canada, as the governing regulatory body, has approved final exam supervision. However, CNA has told the students they do not have appropriate authority under public health to administer the exams, while the Department has washed its hands of the matter and referred the students back to CNA,” says Dinn.

Dinn said he has heard from a number of students and parents who are frustrated and feel abandoned by Government.

“These students have invested thousands of dollars and countless hours of time in pursuit of their dreams. It is not acceptable that, even after months of asking, emailing, and calling these students have not been able to get definitive answers. In fact, students have been told the earliest they can complete their program is September and probably longer. As a result students have to keep apartments in Gander not knowing if and when they will finish their program. This is enormous cost and more importantly, will not allow these students to finally graduate and go out into the workforce,” says Dinn.

“It is time for Minister Mitchelmore to show some leadership here and help these students,” added Dinn.

Contacts:

Bradley Russell

Director of Policy and Research

(p) 1.709.729.3668

BradleyRussell@gov.nl.ca

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