Ontario’s Legislative Assembly will continue its hearings over the summer into alleged performance failings and mismanagement at the Canadian province’s government-funded air-ambulance service known as “Ornge.” The hearings started on March 28 and, as of press time, it was unclear when Members of the Provincial Parliament (MPPs) would issue their final report into what appears to have gone badly wrong after Ontario’s Liberal Party-led government gave overall control of the service to privately owned Ornge. Instead, the opposition politicians who instigated the hearings called last month for a full select committee investigation with full judicial powers, to get to the bottom of allegations and testimony aired in the parliamentary sessions.
Ornge has one of the most modern air-ambulance fleets in the world, operating 12 AgustaWestland AW139s (10 in service) and 10 Pilatus PC-12s from 12 bases across Ontario; it employs 500 people. Last year, Ornge directly transferred or contracted for the transfer of 19,000 patients, both in the air and on the ground, for which Ontario paid Ornge $150 million to provide the service within the framework of Canada’s nationalized health-care system. Under the arrangement, Ornge uses both its own aircraft and contracts for supplemental lift from other operators.
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