Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones says Premier Williams’ latest statements on the selection of a new President for Memorial University are raising more questions and are in conflict with earlier statements made by Education Minister Joan Burke.

"Minister Burke was very clear in her media scrums, interviews and news releases that she acted alone to summon presidential candidates for interviews and then dismissing those candidates from further consideration," said Ms. Jones. "The minister’s statements are in conflict with those made by the premier. If this whole process was an attempt to ‘sell the province’ to potential candidates, as stated by the premier, how did this become an interview process that led Minister Burke to dismiss two candidates out of hand with instructions for the search committee to go back to the drawing board?"

Jones says it seems a little too convenient that neither the minister, the Board of Regents, the presidential selection committee, nor the premier mentioned this invitation for government to participate in the process over the past two weeks while under intense scrutiny from the media and general public.

"There is certainly more to this story than is being told by government or officials at Memorial University. From the very beginning, government was evasive on basic facts and there have been several different versions of events brought forward by the minister and the premier. We still have heard nothing from the Board of Regents to find out which version is true.

"Recognizing that they overstepped their duties as outlined in the Memorial University Act, government must now back away from this process, stop their involvement and allow the process to proceed. The Minister of Education interviewing and rejecting candidates is obviously inappropriate and this political interference must stop immediately."

- 30 -