The Provincial Government is calling on Service Canada to reverse its decision regarding the Canada Summer Jobs Program, given the severe hardship and disappointment it is causing for students and community groups throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

"The federal government has created new guidelines that have resulted in a loss of funding for worthwhile organizations and will drastically reduce the number of summer jobs for students," said the Honourable Shawn Skinner, Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment. "I have written the federal minister responsible for Service Canada, Monte Solberg, and have placed a call to his office to impress upon him the devastating impact this decision is having on students and community-based organizations. Determining how such funding is allocated must be based on collaboration, not on a made-in-Ottawa scoring formula that simply crunches students and sponsoring groups through a spreadsheet."

As a result of the federal government�s decision, some of this province�s world-class attractions, such as the Colony of Avalon archaeological dig and the Festival 500 Choir Festival, no longer qualify for federal student employment funding. As well, career-oriented summer employment programs offered through organizations like Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) are seeing their ability to provide students with meaningful summer employment severely hampered.

"Federal Minister Solberg has claimed that the old Canada Jobs Program was not working for students in our province or providing them with meaningful employment or equal opportunities," said the Honourable Joan Burke, Minister of Education and Minister Responsible for the Status of Women. "I challenge Minister Solberg to outline how the new program can provide equality when non-profit organizations like WISE have been denied funding. For 17 years, this organization has provided young women with summer employment. Well over 60 per cent of the participants are from rural Newfoundland and Labrador and the vast majority go on to post-secondary education and training in technology-based careers."

Sponsoring groups and organizations that have received support in the past and which have a solid and consistent pattern of employing young people are no longer being supported because of criteria being changed or applied in a manner totally inconsistent with their past experience and needs.

"It is plain to see that the three federal MPs, including Newfoundland and Labrador�s representative in the federal cabinet, remain outside looking in, and are out of step with decisions impacting their ridings and province," said Minister Skinner. "I call on them to stand up for students, towns, community groups and the hundreds of organizations being negatively impacted by the Canada Summer Jobs program. I ask them to join with me and call on Minister Solberg to see the error, reverse the decision and revert back to the previous program."