Kenneth Patrick, founder of CAE, honoured with a street in his name

CAE and the City of Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent inaugurated today Kenneth-Patrick Street in Montreal, in honour of the founder of the global training company that now employs 8,500 people around the world. The ceremony took place in the presence of employees and members of Kenneth Patrick's family.

Kenneth R. Patrick, an aviator and ex-Royal Canadian Air Force Officer, founded CAE on St. Patrick's Day, 70 years ago. His goal was to: "...create something Canadian and take advantage of a war-trained team that was extremely innovative and very technology-intensive."

In 1954, he moved his company into a new facility adjacent to Montreal's international airport, to accommodate 500 employees. It is still today the company's headquarters. By the mid-1950s, CAE was already creating its first flight simulators. One innovation led to another and, by 1982, CAE had developed a flight simulator so realistic that training on real aircraft was no longer necessary. The rest is history.

"CAE is a great Canadian success story, and it is fitting to honour its founder on CAE's 70th anniversary year," said Marc Parent, CAE President and Chief Executive Officer. "Mr. Patrick would be proud of what we have become. Today, CAE is the global training partner of choice for airlines, defence forces and healthcare professionals. Each year, we train over 120,000 civil and defence crewmembers. CAE's purpose is noble: to make air travel safer, defence forces mission ready and medical personnel better able to save lives."

"In Saint-Laurent, we are committed to honouring those who distinguished themselves and hence also contributed to the development of their community. Thanks to Mr. Patrick, Saint-Laurent's industrial area of 4,680 companies includes CAE and we are very proud of that fact! With the unveiling of Kenneth-Patrick Street we are ensuring that a link to the past is preserved while also enthusiastically looking to the future, thanks to the innovations of companies like CAE," said Alan DeSousa, Mayor of Saint-Laurent.

"CAE is one of the pillars of Montreal's aerospace cluster. We are the world leader in commercial aviation training because we are innovative. It's part of our DNA since the very beginning, thanks to Kenneth Patrick's vision," said Marc Parent. "We are really proud to pursue his work today, and the work all the employees before us who have made this company a true success story over the past 70 years."

Photos of the event will be available later today for download at www.cae.com/photos