Mazza FIRED. Orgne in receivership

[Morav]

FL280, you sound extremely naive.

Do you honestly believe that Ornge's for-profit parent(whatever) companies are actually profitable?????? Profitable enough to pay these rats those outrageous wages? Profitable enough to pay for 10 new PC12, or all those Agustas? Profitable enough to buy a huge hanger in YQT, and a mega base at YYZ?

There's some serious scheming going on, and I doubt the tax payers are the only one's getting duped.

People like Mazza are parasites in our modern age.

[FL280]

Well Doc, as per usual, we have opinions that don't agree. Take that for what it is. Here's to a sporty new year! Happy holidays and fly safe. Bye til 2012!

[nwesterntown]

Just curious, what are the guidelines for salary in regards to non-profit companies operated by the province or federal government? It may have been 'outrageous' but did he break any laws in receiving his salary? Other than a obvious moral one?

FL280, you sound extremely naive.

Do you honestly believe that Ornge's for-profit parent(whatever) companies are actually profitable?????? Profitable enough to pay these rats those outrageous wages? Profitable enough to pay for 10 new PC12, or all those Agustas? Profitable enough to buy a huge hanger in YQT, and a mega base at YYZ?

There's some serious scheming going on, and I doubt the tax payers are the only one's getting duped.

People like Mazza are parasites in our modern age.

This kind of thing will continue, everywhere, until people start going to jail........



Merry Christmas

[YYZSaabGuy]

Health Minister Deb Matthews called Mazza’s salary and others at the non-profit ORNGE “outrageous, shocking and unacceptable.” “When you consider the financial pressures in health care and the pressures on health-care workers, it is very hard to see taxpayers’ money spent on outrageous salaries,” Matthews said in an interview. Matthews, asked to comment on the salaries, would only say that, as of Thursday, she has all of the executive pay packages (including bonuses) at ORNGE, but privacy rules forbid her from releasing them. She would not provide Mazza’s salary, but did say his was the most “outrageous.”

From the MOH website: "Deb Matthews was elected to the Ontario Legislature by the people of London North Centre in 2003, and re-elected in 2007 and 2011. Following her first re-election, she was appointed Minister of Children and Youth Services and Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues. In October 2009, she was appointed to her current position as Minister of Health and Long-Term Care."

That's ballsy. Scream bloody murder when the Toronto Star uncovers the story, even though you've been the Minister of Health for just over two years.

Here is my 2bits worth. the liberals in ontario are in a minorty gov't now ergo shit will hit the fan and the axes will roll to c.y.a. to hold on in power.Never underestimate the gold plated mpp pensions and benefits to motivate them to clean house at any ones expense but their own.

Exactly. As Chris Mazza is in the process of finding out.

[Hiflyer2]

More good news from the Ornge front lines.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/arti ... =1#article

[Hiflyer2]

It was certainly interesting to watch this story unfold because it has been a ridiculous debacle since day one. The real details of this whole scandal tend to be here say. Unfortunately I believe the leader of this web of companies have had some very talented help hiding the money in the various foundations. It is highly unlikely the premier and cabinet will launch a full scale criminal proceeding because the government will likely fall and be implicated in the proceedings. I personally believe when and if they get to end of the money trail some high end brass will fry and some of the names will sound very familiar. Above and beyond the Fruit Punch. (Various Ornge Boards). As much as Mazza is guilty of misdoing and abuse of salary, he has a few boards that were also responsible to the public. This will be very interesting!!!!! BRING IT ON!!!!

[Hiflyer2]

The newspapers and opposition parties should be calling for a full judicial enquiry and bring all the players to the table. Every air ambulance company in Ontario will likely have plenty to say about this! I have a funny feeling they have been gagged by Ornge if they wanted any further business!!!!

[Maynard]

ORNGE- no A, no Accountability

[whipline]

Congratulations Toronto star!! I have a buddy working in the office at ornge. He's one of the whistle blowers. He has numerous stories of dispatching aircraft and then being told by his boss to stand them down. Ornge was not in the game to save lives.

[ipilot54]

Cohn: The political roots of the ORNGE helicopter debacle
Published On Fri Dec 23 2011 Toronto Star

Under george Smitherman’s guidance as health minister, Martin Regg Cohn writes, transformation of Ontario’s old air ambulance services into the non-profit ORNGE operation went only to the management board (which oversees and allocates funding).

Under george Smitherman’s guidance as health minister, Martin Regg Cohn writes, transformation of Ontario’s old air ambulance services into the non-profit ORNGE operation went only to the management board (which oversees and allocates funding).

We now know what Chris Mazza, the head of Ontario’s publicly funded air ambulance service, makes a year — $1.4 million.

That’s roughly seven times what the premier makes. And about five times the average hospital CEO salary. It’s even more than the $1.3 million earned by the nuclear engineer who runs OPG, an electrical utility with 10 nuclear reactors and 60 hydroelectric stations.

We know Mazza’s salary as chief executive of ORNGE (and its affiliated companies) not because he thought to disclose his salary on the annual list of people on the public payroll (he dodged), nor because he deigned to answer media queries (he refused), nor because his high-priced outside PR consultant came clean.

After a series of exposes, Toronto Star investigative reporter Kevin Donovan learned from his confidential sources that the head of Ontario’s medical helicopter fleet earns more than any public servant in the province.

With the provincial auditor general now looking at the books, and a team of forensic auditors from the finance ministry swooping in on its offices Friday, perhaps we might also learn how much ORNGE is paying Hill & Knowlton — the damage control and public relations consulting firm that typically bills $500 an hour — out of public funds in order to stonewall the public.

Health Minister Deb Matthews is seeing red over the ORNGE debacle, which feeds public suspicions of waste, self-dealing, scandalously high salaries and picayune perks.

Remember eHealth consultants who conspicuously consumed Choco Bites on their infamous expense claims? Now we learn that the CEO of our air ambulance services demanded a chilled smoothie on his desk at 3 p.m. every day while ministering to the sick and infirm by deploying a fleet of helicopters across the province from his gleaming new command centre.

Matthews says she was in the dark about ORNGE until, prodded by the Star’s coverage and the auditor general’s initial findings (his draft report has already been circulated), she demanded answers. In fact, opposition MPPs have been raising tough questions about the air ambulance arrangement for months without getting straight answers.

But like the eHealth controversy that has plagued the Liberal government for years, the ORNGE haze long predates Matthews. And it shares a common lineage with two other thorns in the government’s side — the controversial Green Energy Act and the Samsung deal, both of which attracted the auditor’s eye and opposition ire again this month.

What’s the common theme linking all these political minefields — ORNGE, eHealth, Samsung and green energy?

All roads lead to an ex-politician named George Smitherman. You remember, Dalton McGuinty’s second-in-command as deputy premier?

It’s not that everything he touched turned to dross — he merely left a mess behind for others to clean up. The gift that keeps on giving.

“Furious George,” as Smitherman was quickly dubbed, certainly knew how to kick down doors. He just didn’t know how to seal the cracks and fissures for the inevitable storm fronts.

It would be too easy to scapegoat Smitherman, however. Most of the big decisions were taken together with his fellow ministers and the premier under the rubric of collective decision-making by cabinet — sometimes after long and heated discussions.

Most of them, at any rate. The ORNGE spin-off stands as a notable exception.

It turns out that the full cabinet never approved the transformation of Ontario’s old air ambulance services into the shiny new non-profit ORNGE operation. Under Smitherman’s guidance as health minister, it went only to the management board (that oversees and allocates funding). Which explains why many ministers are scratching their heads over the political death spiral of this helicopter fleet.

As for its ambitious expansion plans — setting up for-profit affiliates that allowed the CEO to bulk up his salary from a handsome $300,000 to an egregious $1.4 million — ORNGE “never sought approval, nor did we give it,” a health ministry spokesperson insisted.

And the government never gave it a second look.

[westcoastwonder]

Does any one else see STARS rotoring to the rescue.

They have the same equipment, or want to at least, they have the admin, billing, training and dispatch already and scalable & portable. Only cost the government about 15 million a year and has been true to their focus for years. Very few complaints, no scandals and audited, publicly available financial statements right from year one.

Not saying it would be a good or bad thing. I just have an amazing grasp of the obvious

[Northern Flyer]

Does any one else see STARS rotoring to the rescue.

They have the same equipment, or want to at least, they have the admin, billing, training and dispatch already and scalable & portable. Only cost the government about 15 million a year and has been true to their focus for years. Very few complaints, no scandals and audited, publicly available financial statements right from year one.

Not saying it would be a good or bad thing. I just have an amazing grasp of the obvious

Let me guess, you are STARS high priced PR consultant.....

I have a feeling that STARS will not be far behind ORNGE in the unemployment line, in Manitoba at least.

[C208]

Naaah, he isn't that well paid, He is just the man selling calenders at the local Real Canadian Superstore.

[flyby17]

Does any one else see STARS rotoring to the rescue.

They have the same equipment, or want to at least, they have the admin, billing, training and dispatch already and scalable & portable. Only cost the government about 15 million a year and has been true to their focus for years. Very few complaints, no scandals and audited, publicly available financial statements right from year one.

Not saying it would be a good or bad thing. I just have an amazing grasp of the obvious

Let me guess, you are STARS high priced PR consultant.....

I have a feeling that STARS will not be far behind ORNGE in the unemployment line, in Manitoba at least.

Care to enlighten us un-informed ones why you feel that way? Have there been rumors around STARS as well?

[Northern Flyer]

Does any one else see STARS rotoring to the rescue.

They have the same equipment, or want to at least, they have the admin, billing, training and dispatch already and scalable & portable. Only cost the government about 15 million a year and has been true to their focus for years. Very few complaints, no scandals and audited, publicly available financial statements right from year one.

Not saying it would be a good or bad thing. I just have an amazing grasp of the obvious

Let me guess, you are STARS high priced PR consultant.....

I have a feeling that STARS will not be far behind ORNGE in the unemployment line, in Manitoba at least.

Care to enlighten us un-informed ones why you feel that way? Have there been rumors around STARS as well?

I'm uninformed as well I just have a feeling that the flooding in Manitoba this spring was used to move STARS into Manitoba. Flooding is over, election is over, and now it is time to pay the piper.

[westcoastwonder]

The closest I have been to STARS is across the Calgary airport from them.
I saw one of their helicopters 5 or so years ago on the BC tour trying to make inroads into the BC airevac scene. That did not work.

I am not informed, just asking

[2R]

Caligula has left the building......

Corruptimo Optima Pessima

[Dayofthedogs]

In Winnipeg STARS had a mobile office trailer parked out front of the Kelly Western that is no longer there as of a week ago or so. Have not noticed their machine on the ramp since the trailer left either.

At least i'm pretty sure the trailer was STARS (95%)

[rigpiggy]

Isn't the COB for STARS also the head of the leasing company that "leases" the choppers to them. Kind of like having the head of KFC on the board of Canada Post/Purolator.

From His KFC bio in case somebody accuses me of Slander

Barry has a keen interest in Canadian Air Transportation and is a strong supporter of many groups. He is a past Chairman of the Airline Transport Association of Canada (ATAC) board and and is now serving as Secretary. Barry was also a member of the Partnership BC (PBC) and is a current Director with Purolator Courier Ltd. (PCL).

[Dash-Ate]

removed the pictures and the preceding comments as they were off topic
Bandaid

[whipline]

So ornge isn't corrupt? Because the star reported it? I'm not getting your post, but I have had a couple of festive pops so I might be a bit off.

[Liquid Charlie]

The whole medivac biz in Ontario started it's downward slide when Max scooped Bobby Dale by cutting pilot wages to f_uck all -- and then hired inexperienced crews that did not meet matrix set out in the contract by getting them waivers -- clearly nothing has changed -- money is the constant and safety the variable --

[Chuck Ellsworth]

AAAhhhh.....those were the days.

Sonny and his offspring Bob.

[2R]

Who made the decision to do patient transfers in a single engine aircraft at night in a part of the world where temperatures can be below -40 C for weeks
Is that guy gonna get paid sick leave
The patient and crew may survive the glide, but how long would it take the cold weather and extreme conditions in the north to kill a weak sick person being transfered

[Frank Wilson]

So, who owns the voting shares in ORNGE Global?