NDP changes course on medical air charters after subjecting Tories to turbulence before election

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This article was published 10/01/2024 (635 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Kinew government is clearing the runway to continue contracting medical flights to the private sector after slamming the Progressive Conservatives for privatizing provincial air services.

The province is soliciting air carriers to fly scheduled and on-demand charter planes for the government and other public-sector organizations, including Shared Health, which oversees the delivery of health services.

Government Services Minister Lisa Naylor said the majority the charter flights being contracted are for stable patients who are well enough for air travel, their escorts and health workers travelling to remote areas.

“This is a way to save money,” Naylor told the Free Press late Wednesday.

According to the solicitation, the province is looking for a single company to maintain a schedule of flights throughout northern Manitoba and to Nunavut.

It also wants to establish a list of pre-qualified air carriers for on-demand charter flights across the province under pre-determined rates in a three-year contract.

Naylor said the intent is to consolidate Shared Health’s need for chartered flights with those of the provincial government and the University of Manitoba under one agreement.

Currently, the province has a contract with Wings Over Kississing for scheduled medical flights, Naylor said. The agreement expires next February. The Health Department also regularly contracts other companies for chartered medical flights.

As well, Manitoba has agreements with Keewatin Air, Perimeter Air and Fast Air to provide chartered flights for other government departments, Naylor said.

In an interview scheduled on the topic earlier Wednesday, the minister said she could not speak to specifics of the solicitation and apologized for being unable to answer questions.

While in opposition, the NDP argued that patient care has suffered following the privatization of Manitoba Government Air Services and the Lifeflight air ambulance in 2019.

As recently as March, Wab Kinew, then NDP leader, challenged the PCs to “reverse course” and called the privatization of air ambulances wrong, after a Brandon-area senior complained of mistreatment aboard a medical flight to Winnipeg.

Four months later, the PC government awarded Winnipeg-based Exchange Income Corp. subsidiary Keewatin Air a 10-year, $211-million contract for fixed-wing medevac flights.

Concerns raised by the NDP regarding government control over costs, schedules, patient safety and medical standards on contracted flights still stand, Naylor said.

“By consolidating the contract in order to ensure the best price, we at least are going to be saving money while still trying to deliver the best possible service to Manitobans and we will continue to review,” she said.

However the question of restoring government air services and the associated costs would require a longer-term vision, she said.

“We have immediate needs that have to be addressed, with an expiring contract” she said.

“By consolidating the contract in order to ensure the best price, we at least are going to be saving money while still trying to deliver the best possible service to Manitobans and we will continue to review.”–MLA Lisa Naylor

Anesthesiologist and former Lifeflight medical director Dr. Renate Singh said creating a roster of pre-qualified airlines to transport low-risk patients is a potential improvement on the current system.

As opposed to ad hoc contracting, the province can set higher service standards, gain more oversight and get better value for taxpayers through a public competition, Singh said.

However, she agreed returning to a publicly owned medical air transport service would be challenging and may not be the best investment, given Manitoba’s fiscal situation.

“We can never replace what we lost; we can’t replace the Lifeflight program,” she said.

Meantime, the province’s contract with EIC for general air transportation services is also scheduled to come to an end this year.

The five-year, $23-million contract was signed by the Tories in 2019 to fly judges, sheriffs and accused individuals to northern Manitoba for circuit court.

The Justice contract will go to tender in the coming months, Naylor said.

The province also plans to hire an aviation consultant to assist with selecting the air carrier and managing the contract after it is awarded in order to maintain safety, service and cost standards, according to government documents.

“Our top priority at this point is just ensuring that services are continuous, and while we’re looking into all available options going forward, the most important thing is continuity of service for Manitobans,” Naylor said.

“Our top priority at this point is just ensuring that services are continuous, and while we’re looking into all available options going forward, the most important thing is continuity of service for Manitobans.”–Lisa Naylor

Criminal defence attorney Chris Sigurdson said it’s a good move to expand the government’s roster of air carriers after cancelled flights led to major disruptions to the northern circuit court last year.

“That will greatly improve the system,” he said.

In February, the Free Press reported flights were routinely cancelled from departure points in Thompson and The Pas, with up to 70 per cent of flights failing to take off.

Sigurdson, who has more than two decades of experience in the circuit court system, said the situation has improved and fewer trips are being cancelled.

However, flights continue to be delayed and, at times, there are too few planes available to take judges, lawyers, sheriffs and inmates to their destinations.

“They shouldn’t have one large contract with one company,” Sigurdson said. “Justice should be separate. Health should be separate… when they’re all in one basket like that, that’s when you get problems.”

Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union president Kyle Ross said the province should give serious consideration to bringing some air services back in-house, where possible.

Access to health care was compromised and Manitobans are waiting longer for critical government services owing to privatization of government air services, he argued.

“Ensuring northern Manitobans have access to important government and health care services should always be a priority,” the union boss said in a statement.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca