Bonavista woman blocks AES building with vehicles to protest closure

The Advanced Education and Skills centre in Bonavista was one of the casualties of the provincial budget and one woman from the community is putting her foot down and her brakes onin protest.

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Eliza Swyers said when she heard that a representative from AES mightbe visiting the closed building to remove some equipment on Tuesday, she decided to park her vehicles to block the doors.

"I reacted automatically and I took two vehicles and I parked them in front of the AES office," she said.

"One was an RV and the other was a small pickup truck."

Swyers said she is unhappy with the decision to close the centre, and that two jobs will be lost and four more transferred to Clarenville. There are currently no government employees workinginside the Bonavista building.

It's the first time she's blocked a building like this but she felt something needed to be done to encourage a response from government.

"I really believe that if government officials make a decision and people are very unhappy with it, then we have the right to ask questions and get answers," Swyers said.

"I know that we're in financial trouble and we need to do something about it," shesaid.

"But, I firmly believe, with every fibre of my being, that people across this province have some solutions to the problems if government is willing to listen."

Swyers said she wonders what the purpose of closing the AES centre is and she is preparing a list of questions to send to government.

"If you believe in something, you truly believe in it, you won't give up," she said.

"If I would have to wait for years to get answers, I would keep forwarding those questions."

Swyers said she also contacted the RCMP to explain why she parked her RV and pickup to block the AES building.

On Tuesday afternoon, Swyers was contacted by representatives from the minister's officeand she agreed tomove her pickup to allow staff to gointo the building to collect files.

Representatives from the department also answered some of Swyers' questions in a conference call, but when she couldn't get answers to all her questions she againblocked access.