Manitoba’s NDP party says a recent emergency landing by a medevac plane at the Thompson airport shows that the provincial government’s plan to seek bids from private companies to take over some of its flight services could put users at risk.
“The footage of this plane’s landing is harrowing to watch, especially when we remember this plane could be transporting a patient in critical condition,” said Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew after obtaining a video of the landing, which was the result of landing gear failing to lock and collapsing when the plane returned to land at the airport a few minutes after it had taken off bound for Island Lake “Lifeflight delivers essential health care services for our most vulnerable. Under a publicly owned structure there is no incentive to fly for profit or reward and there is less risk to patients. Pallister needs to stop privatizing Lifeflight and cancel the RFP (request for proposals) today.”
The Manitoba government announced July 26 that it had issued an RFP to provide air services to the government to see if these services can be provided more cost effectively or with a higher level of service.
“Our government’s top priority is ensuring that safety and service standards remain high, and that these vital services are always available when Manitobans need them. If the RFP does not result in an outcome that is at least as safe and efficient as the current delivery model, we will not proceed,” said Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler in a July news release, noting that virtually all of Manitoba’s air ambulance services and more than half of its overall air service needs are provided privately already. “None of those private services were ever tendered, nor do we do have binding service contracts. There is no guarantee of available aircraft, no service standards and insufficient safety requirements. That’s why it is often a challenge to provide air ambulance service to communities who need it most.”
In 2016-17, the most recent year with complete data, privately operated air ambulances transported 6,575 patients, while publicly operated air ambulances including helicopters, the Southern Air Ambulance program and Lifeflight, transported a total of 1,331, about 20 per cent as many.
The NDP says that a recently released report on the plan to privatize more air services showed that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has investigated nearly 30 incidents involving private carriers that resulted in 23 fatalities and 33 serious injuries since 1994. In the same period, they said, there was only one investigation into a government-operated flight back in 1999, and that it had been due to an error by air traffic controllers.
The landing gear on a SkyNorth Air medevac plane collapsed when it touched down at the Thompson airport in the early hours of Sept. 9, causing significant damage to the aircraft’s fuel system. Thompson Fire & Emergency Services (TFES) personnel attended the scene to chase the airplane down the runway to ensure the safety of the crew as the plane was evacuated and to apply extinguishing agents to suppress fuel vapours. Two pilots and a nurse were on board the plane at the time of the landing. The plane had left Thompson airport bound for Island Lake shortly before and the pilots had been unable to get the landing gear locked. They circled the airport for a while before coming in for the landing.
The NDP says SkyNorth is one of 12 private companies that bid on the province’s RFP for Lifeflight services, which closed Sept. 23.
“When you look at some of the landing strips these medevac planes have to land in and take off from and the conditions, it may not be ideal weather conditions,” said Flin Flon NDP MLA Tom Lindsey. “I think you want the absolute best trained, most qualified people flying those planes and the best medical staff possible on those planes. Somebody flying out on a Lifeflight medical evacuation, it’s not just because. It’s because there’s a serious condition that requires they get medical care that’s not available in the northern communities. They need to get there and they need to get there now.”
The NDP says the Lifeflight RFP has provisions that would allow flight crews not to meet minimum safety requirements and to use unpressurized aircraft.
St. Boniface MLA and Manitoba Liberal party leader Dougald Lamont said in July that providing air ambulance services privately would prevent jets from flying into some northern communities because their airports have gravel runways.
“The Pallister government’s plan to privatize air ambulances means the best planes for the job can’t even land in 23 of the communities they are supposed to serve,” said Lamont.
“With this government everything is about for-profit and things like Lifeflight, like medical evacuations, water bombers, can’t be about profit, they have to be about providing a safe reliable service that people depend on,” said Lindsey. “Take a look at the buses and what’s happening with them. They’re not making enough money so they just shut down. Is that what we can expect from water bombers or Lifeflight in the future? We didn’t make enough money this year so we’re going to cut back on service?”
