1/ I'd like to talk about the #Brampton Flight Centre, and the very overlooked population who attend it, and need help. It is an internationally known flight school, which draws students from far & wide; before COVID, Canada was staring down the barrel of a major pilot shortage

2/ While the big players like Air Canada & WestJet were able to still find enough pilots, even they were having to reduce minimum standards to get enough people (don't worry, their lowered minimum standards are still very good). They were poaching them from regional carriers.

3/ Where were the regional carriers getting them from? Even smaller players who do things like transport people and goods, who were having difficulty getting enough pilots. As of the end of December last year, Canada was expected to be short thousands of pilots.

4/ What does that have to do with the Brampton Flight School? As most students are international students, they are on student visas, and once they finish that, they have work permits. To get permanent residency, they need to get enough hours in their field.

5/ Because the Aviation Industry has ground to a halt, & there have been staggering layoffs, all those vacant positions like bush pilots are now filled. How is this a problem? Those students can't get the work experience needed to get Permanent Residency, they will need to leave

6/ How many people do you think are going to decide to become pilots during this pandemic? Being a pilot is a skilled job, it takes years of training, and tens of thousands of dollars. When the Aviation Industry recovers, it is quite possible the shortage will be even worse.

7/ Quite simply, to the aviation industry, these aspiring pilots are effectively irreplaceable, given the pilot shortage. These international students will get hurt, and also Northern and Indigenous Communities in Fly in Communities, who depend on planes for almost everything.

8/ What is the point of this thread? The Federal government urgently needs to take action to allow these international flight students to be able to stay in Canada, because they are essential to our future.

9/ In case you are wondering how the Brampton Flight School is internationally known, it is because we have a wide variety of weather (good for experience), generally decent flying weather, access to less densely crowded airspace to the North, we speak English (aviation language)