Report predicted northern court crisis after privatization

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/02/2023 (941 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A crisis gripping the circuit court system in northern Manitoba was predicted five years ago when the province was warned privatizing its air transportation service would spark significant justice delays.

In 2018, the union that represented employees of the then-public branch commissioned a 53-page study that highlighted pilot shortages and red-flagged the move as a big risk with little reward.

The Progressive Conservative government announced in 2019 it was privatizing air travel for judges, attorneys, sheriffs and accused persons to save money. It claimed the move would provide more reliable service and accountability.

“A single court delay in the northern region of Manitoba costs on average $10,000 and extended delays can lead to cases being thrown out of court,” the province said in a news release announcing the five-year contract with Exchange Income Corp.

“This agreement will also reduce the number of occasions where court is rescheduled or cancelled in northern parts of our province, so the criminal justice system is administered in a timely fashion.”

Following a competitive bid process, the company (chaired by former PC premier Gary Filmon) was awarded the contract worth $4.2 million per year. The deal would save Manitoba taxpayers $1.3 million annually, then-infrastructure minister Ron Schuler said at the time.

Four years later, one of the lawyers on the northern court circuit told the Free Press so many flights are now being cancelled, it feels like “someone is playing a joke” on them.

As many as 50 to 70 per cent of flights per week may be axed, said provincial court Chief Judge Margaret Wiebe, adding to the backlog of delayed cases resulting from pandemic-related closures.

The province blames the cancellations on an industry-wide shortage of pilots and said it’s working with Exchange Income to address the problem. It is also looking at other industry partners to ensure access to justice for Manitobans.

Neither Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen nor Government Services Minister James Teitsma was prepared to comment Friday.

The province did not respond when asked how many times court proceedings have been delayed due to flight cancellations or how much the cancellations have cost the government.

It did say performance metrics and penalties are in Exchange Income’s agreement, but wouldn’t disclose them, saying it’s a commercial contract and proprietary details are private.

Exchange Income owns hangars and aircraft operating under carriers such as Bearskin Airlines, Calm Air, Custom Helicopters, Keewatin Air and Perimeter Aviation.

Under the previous government-run system, private carriers were used 97 per cent of the time and there were no set rates, so the province paid what carriers demanded with no cost certainty on a given flight, the February 2019 government news release said.

In its 2018 report — “Air Services for All Manitobans: Assessing the Rationale for Privatizing Manitoba Government Air Services” — the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union warned such a move would result in more flight cancellations and court case delays.

Smaller carriers that would take over are hit hardest by pilot shortages since their pilots are typically newer and less experienced and move on to bigger, preferred employers when they accumulate enough hours to advance, the report said.

Pilots at the government-run air service viewed it as an “employer of choice” because of advanced training provided and more predictable work hours, the report stated, noting contracting out the air service would make it tougher for the government to observe and enforce the quality of the service

“Unfortunately, many of those predictions have come to be,” Jean-Guy Bourgeois, MGEU director of internal relations, said Friday.

“What the report made the case for was that having a long-term, permanent, stable Manitoba government air service creates an environment that makes you more competitive in attracting and retaining pilots when there is a shortage.

“Private carriers have long been involved in this service, but the difference between then and now is… the Manitoba Justice system had access to its own reliable service that it could count on when the private carriers couldn’t be there for them. They don’t have that now.”

The result of following such a flight plan was predictable, said NDP justice critic Nahanni Fontaine.

“Once you start privatizing what are supposed to be government services, you lose control over those services,” she said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca