Mazza FIRED. Orgne in receivership

[Brown Bear]

Might be time to "rethink" McGuinty as well?

[ipilot54]

ORNGE: Salaries of 50 executives stay secret
Published On Fri Mar 23 2012
Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter

More than 50 ORNGE high-earners did not make Friday’s Sunshine List because lawyers told Health Minister Deb Matthews she did not have the right to disclose their names.
An ongoing Star investigation estimates the total annual undisclosed salaries of these executives at $8 million.
After the Star asked ORNGE and the health ministry Thursday why virtually none of ORNGE’s high earners — including founder Dr. Chris Mazza — would be on the list, health minister Deb Matthews called ORNGE.
“I spoke with (interim boss) Ron McKerlie Friday morning and asked him to see if people would disclose their salaries voluntarily,” Matthews said.

By 6:30 p.m. Friday, 16 employees, including their communication’s boss, had voluntarily disclosed on the ORNGE website. Their salaries total roughly $2.5 million, but the high earners are still missing.

One salary not on the list was Mazza’s. The Star revealed in December that he brought in $1.4 million in 2010. His 2011 salary was higher, sources say, and was bumped up further by loans and advances totalling $1.2 million. ORNGE has asked for the money back. Mazza was not asked by ORNGE or the province to disclose his salary.

“I don’t know where he is,” Matthews said.

Human resources officials at ORNGE spent the day asking executives, current and mostly past, if they would give permission to release their 2011 salaries. Because they were paid by one of ORNGE’s many for-profit companies, lawyers told the ministry it could not reveal their salaries.
Matthews likened the situation to long-term care homes that are funded by the province. Executives at those for-profit firms are not covered by the salary disclosure law either.
Among those top executives not yet disclosed (all have left ORNGE) are:
Former ORNGE aviation chief Rick Potter (the fellow who said he had an MBA and did not); former executive vice-president Maria Renzella; Kelly Long (Mazza’s girlfriend, the former water ski instructor who rose to the rank of vice-president); John Mackenzie (a “contractor” with the title of chief operating officer, ORNGE International); former vice-president Rhoda Beecher (she was paid as a consultant); Luis Navas (executive at ORNGE Global); and at least four board members, including chairman Rainer Beltzner.
Among the 16 who voluntarily disclosed (all still at ORNGE) are: vice-president finance Bruce Tavender ($286,127 in salary and taxable benefits); vice-president aviation James Feeley ($276,775 in salary and benefits); Jennifer Tracey, association vice-president corporate communications ($175,166 salary and benefits); and Lisa Kirbie, director of government relations ($143,924 salary and benefits).

[ipilot54]

OATA Urges the McGuinty Government to Review Ornge's Mandate
WDM Group PR Network 23 Mar 2012 WDM Group PR Network


TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 23, 2012) - The Ontario Air Transport Association is a voice for Ontario's Commercial Air Carriers including those who supply Air Ambulance service to the Ontario Ministry of Health through Ornge. As Certified and Licensed "Air Ambulances" under the Ambulance Act, these Air Carriers have been the backbone of the Provincial Air Ambulance system for decades. In fact, until the Ministry of Health handed responsibility for Air Ambulance over to what is now Ornge in 2005, these Air Carriers transported 100% of the patients in Ontario and still transport the bulk of Ontario patients today. These Air Carriers are continually inspected by Transport Canada, by the Ministry of Health as well as Ornge itself. As noted in the Auditor's Special Report; neither Ornge nor Ornge contracted independent consultants found any significant issues with the Air Carriers. These Air Carriers provide Ontarians with an Air Ambulance service that puts emphasis on patient care and safety and provides this service at a reasonable cost to the taxpayer.

The number of Air Ambulance bases as well as the number of Ambulance aircraft available at any given moment has severely dwindled under Ornge. For example, where Northwestern Ontario once had 5 communities with a fixed-wing Air Ambulance, there are now only 2. What is even more shocking is that the total number of fixed-wing Air Ambulance bases province wide has dropped from 17 to just 7 while the costs have risen substantially.

OATA has been gravely concerned with the direction that the Air Ambulance service has taken in this province since the Ministry divested itself of this responsibility. Since the transfer, it was very apparent that unusual and uncommon business practices were being adopted by Ornge. OATA and its' members have brought their concerns forward to the Ministry of Health and the Minister's office on a number of occasions with little if any response, for over six years! The last correspondence to the Minister's office was on December 23, 2011 requesting a meeting to discuss the issues. To date, the Minister has not met with our members.

The current revelations support OATA's expressed concerns that Ornge and Ornge Global Air's managers conspired together to fraudulently obtain detailed and confidential financial and proprietary information from OATA's members. The very reasons for Ornge to start an "airline" are fraught with misinformation and misrepresentation. OATA has repeatedly brought these and other very serious abnormalities to the government's attention. We are disappointed that our voice has so far been ignored and believe that if key decision makers would have listened to our members, the current crisis could have been avoided.

As our association pointed out in our letter to the Minister of December 23rd;

"Contrary to what you may have been told by Ornge, the Air Ambulance system in the province is NOT underfunded; there has been a complete loss of accountability that has been manifesting itself year after year."

"OATA members are extremely concerned that the very serious issues they have raised continue to be ignored. OATA has respectfully and repeatedly looked to this Government for help, none of which has been forth coming. As the Minister responsible this ought to be a matter that you directly address and correct, however if no help is forthcoming then our membership sees no other option but to add our stories to the current revelations of fiscal abuse and to pursue recourse against the Government and Ornge through both the Courts of Law and Public opinion. Please appreciate this is not our preference; we are committed to working constructively with the Government but cannot do so if the Government continues to ignore us."

OATA is pleased to see that some action is finally being taken with respect to Ornge however; firing a few key executives or "tightening up the Performance Agreement" does not fix the fundamentally flawed system that the government has put in place. It is our members that have the aviation experience and knowledge that can be utilized to get the Ontario Air Ambulance system back on track.
Specifically, OATA recommends;
1. That Ornge be changed to "Ontario Air Ambulance".
2. Ornge should not be in the "airline" business. The supply and operation of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters should be tendered in a open and competitive bidding process.
3. Ornge's mandate must be limited to:
a) Operation of the Dispatch Centre;
b) Base Hospital functions;
c) On-going training and certification of flight paramedics;
d) Administration of contracts for Air Ambulance services with Air Carriers including ongoing inspections and audits. This should be done in consort with the Inspection, Certification & Regulatory Compliance branch of the Ministry of Health;
e) Inspections and audits of aviation related activities should be returned to the Ministry of Natural Resources' Provincial Air Service. The MNR in fact, has always been responsible for aviation in this Province and the duplication of this resource is yet another waste of taxpayer's money.

The Auditor's report substantiated that our members provide a safe and reliable Air Ambulance service and questions the wisdom of the Government of relying on a single Air Carrier to supply a critical service.

We agree; OATA's members have worked tirelessly to bring Ontarians one the best Air Ambulance services in the world.

[Doc]

So, when do they pull their heads out of their collective asses, and let the private sector do the, more than adequate, job of conducting medevac flights in the Province of Ontario.
Ornge has created unemployment in many cases, and caused at least some companies to either lay off staff and cease medevac operations, or close their doors and go out of business altogether.
This, with the blessings of the Ontario Government. Somebody should pay for this absolute abuse of political power. Ornge, and ultimately, the Government of Ontario are wholly to blame.
If I were Fort Francis Air, Air Bravo, Thunder Airlines and probably a few others, I'd be seeking legal advice for a major class action suit against Ornge, and the Ontario Government.
Do you think companies like WestJet would stand by and allow the Canadian Government to back some "Organization" in the purchase of, say, 30-50 Boeing 737-800's to "compete" with them, supported by the WestJet's employee's own tax dollars? I don't think so either. So, how does the Ontario Government think it's Okay to do the EXACT same thing to the small companies in Ontario?
The fact that our good buddy, the maggot, Dr. Mazza was able to hood wink the Ontario Government into backing his "scheme" in no way absolves the Government for full responsibility for letting this happen.

[Colonel Sanders]

As I said 15 pages ago, this is nothing compared to
other mistakes McGuinty has made, and continues
to make.

Amazingly, you keep voting him in to office, presumably
to do more of the same.

[WestCoastPilot]

Thanks to all those who keep posting the various articles from Ontario newspapers - makes it much easier to keep up with things.

Any idea on if/when Mazza will be charged with anything?

Wes

[EA757]

Deb Matthews: Powerless over ORNGE because it was a federal charity

Wed Mar 28 2012

Colin McConnell/Toronto Star
Tanya Talaga and Kevin Donovan
Staff Reporters

Health Minister Deb Matthews stunned a legislative hearing probing the ORNGE scandal by saying she was powerless to take action because the air ambulance service was set up as a federal charity.

That meant she could not step in and fix a series of problems at ORNGE, Matthews said.

Related: Opposition pushes Deb Matthews to resign over ORNGE scandal

“Because ORNGE was a federally incorporated charity, legislative options were not available,” Matthews told the all-party legislative committee, adding she could not even ask the board to resign after she discovered irregular compensation was paid to some executives.

Eventually — after a series of investigative articles in the Star — Matthews said she told the board of directors, many of whom were also paid “retainers” as high as $200,000, “their house of cards was about to fall.”

Government insiders question why ORNGE would have been off-limits to the health ministry, given that hundreds of provincially funded and regulated agencies (such as hospitals, children’s aid societies and the giant Cancer Care Ontario) are created as federal charities. This is done so that the agency, which receives government funding, does not have to pay taxes.

Last week, Auditor General Jim McCarter issued a searing indictment of the provincial government’s lack of oversight at ORNGE. He found Ontario threw $50 million in funding increases at the service over five years but never checked how taxpayers’ money was being spent.

McCarter and his team reported ORNGE air ambulance bought more aircraft than it needed; purchased a fleet of land ambulances that often sat idle; and used public money to fund a controversial real estate deal that put $9 million into a for-profit company owned by ORNGE executives.

Deputy health minister Saad Rafi, who also faced the committee Wednesday, said that while the government provides ORNGE funding through a contractual agreement, it had little control over it.

“It is not an agency of the government, nor a Crown corporation nor any other extension of the government. (It) is a not for profit corporation governed by the Canada Corporation Act that operates as an independent undertaking,” said Rafi.

“ORNGE is a federally incorporated registered charity. That means the provincial government has no power to create laws that would affect its corporate governance or structure.”

A Star review of the 2005 “performance agreement” between the ministry and ORNGE shows numerous ways the province could have exerted control on the air ambulance service. Instead of taking action to rein in the service, the health ministry repeatedly increased ORNGE’s funding over five years to what is now an annual payment of $150 million.

Progressive Conservative MPP Frank Klees demanded to know why the ministry of health suddenly acted to intervene in late December and early January if the charitable status prevented earlier intervention.

“What changed that allowed the ministry to intervene once the minister decided to do so?” he asked. “What changed from the time the minister said she had no authority to your very aggressive intervention?”

Rafi said the change was the board finally voluntarily resigned. “Absent that, we still would not have been able to affect ORNGE’s structure,” said Rafi. Rafi earned $427,551 last year for helping to run the health ministry, a $48 billion portfolio.

Klees shot back: “So in other words, until such time as you went to ORNGE and asked the board for their cooperation, the ministry took no initiative to do so? That could well have taken place much earlier.”

Matthews gave the hearing her own timeline of events and maintained she “took action immediately upon learning of the problems at ORNGE.”

But NDP MPP France Gélinas pointed out that the New Democratic Party began asking questions about ORNGE and the compensation of senior executives more than two years ago.

Gélinas was stunned by Matthews’ testimony.

“There are big holes in the story. This is completely out of character with the way she usually behaves . . . and the way ministry of health usually functions,” she said. “There were some bigger pressures at play in this issue and they aren’t telling us what it was.”

Meanwhile, ORNGE this week has revealed more high salaries, though it has not yet officially confirmed founder and former CEO Chris Mazza’s $1.4 million annual payment. Maria Renzella, former chief operation officer of ORNGE Global, received $430,255 in 2011, made up salary and a taxable benefit (which is not identified). Former top aviation executive Rick Potter was pulling in $412,318 in salary and benefits.

One fewer ORNGE executive will be working at the troubled air service by the middle of April. Bruce Tavender, vice-president of finance, quit this week and told ORNGE he has accepted a position elsewhere. Tavender ($286,127) started at ORNGE in 2009.

The hearings resume at Queen’s Park next Wednesday.

[Brown Bear]

Does Deb Matthews still have a job? Why?

[2R]

Has anyone sent Mazza a get well card ?

[rigpiggy]

She might not be able to do anything that way, but withholding funding until Ornge does is within her purview.

[ipilot54]

Health minister considered halt to ORNGE funding
Published On Fri Mar 30 2012


By Tanya Talaga Queen's Park Bureau

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews contemplated cutting off ORNGE’s funding when she heard there were serious concerns at the ambulance service but she worried patient care would be jeopardized so she refused to do it.

Matthews made those comments Thursday, a day after she first stunned a legislative hearing probing the ORNGE scandal by saying she was powerless to take action against the troubled entity because it was a federally incorporated charity.

“We cannot pass legislation in the Ontario Legislature that impacts federally incorporated organizations,” she told reporters on Thursday and added the government is hunting for other agencies that may be in the same situation.

Since ORNGE is federally incorporated, Matthews said she didn’t have the legal powers to remove the board and take over the service after she discovered serious compensation irregularities.

But, after a series of investigative articles in the Star, Matthews told the board of directors, many of whom were paid “retainers” as high as $200,000, that their “house of cards was about to fall.”

The board eventually resigned, but before that happened, the ministry did consider cutting funding to ORNGE.

“We did have a number of options. Stopping the money was one, but thankfully we didn’t have to use that tool because the board resigned,” Matthews told reporters.

“Had the board not resigned,” she said, “it would have been an option we would have looked at but it would have been one I would be loathe to use because I would be concerned with patient safety.”

Hearings began on the scandal at the financially based legislative public accounts committee on Wednesday.

Matthews, high level Health Ministry bureaucrats, ORNGE executives and members of the premier’s office are all under fire for who knew what and when at the agency.

Last week, auditor general Jim McCarter issued a searing indictment of the province’s lack of oversight at ORNGE. He discovered Ontario threw $50 million in funding increases at the service over five years but never checked how the money was being spent.

The hearings continue next week with former health minister George Smitherman, Premier Dalton McGuinty’s principal secretary, Jamison Steeve, and others.

Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman called Matthews’ latest explanation about ORNGE being federally incorporated a ruse to avoid the question of when she first knew about the problems and when she acted.

“Who knew what and when? There seems to be great disparity,” Shurman said. “The bottom line is — you are the minister, you are responsible, you knew something. When did you know it and what did you do about it?”

It seems as though the minister didn’t act until the Star began to write about the scandal, he said. “This begins with when the Toronto Star decided to make a serial report about this. That is when it began but she knew about it earlier,” he charged.

Frances Gelinas, the New Democratic Party MPP for Nickel Belt, said Matthews’ explanation that she was powerless due to ORNGE’s federal incorporation “means nothing.”

“You choose where to file your incorporation,” she said. “Your fiscal status has nothing to do with your relationship with your funder.”

The funding arrangement is in the performance agreement or contract the government has with the entity, she said.

“Every time you change the budget, you make changes to the performance agreement,” she said. “They kept changing the agreement. They kept giving them more money. They didn’t want to see what was going on at ORNGE.”

[ipilot54]

George Smitherman ‘regrets’ not anticipating ORNGE scandal[/size]
Published On Wed Apr 04 2012



Former Ontario health minister George Smitherman sits during Ornge hearings at Queen's Park, waiting to be called to testify. The governing Liberals are beign accused of stalling proceedings.

Former Ontario health minister George Smitherman sits during Ornge hearings at Queen's Park, waiting to be called to testify. The governing Liberals are beign accused of stalling proceedings.
RENE JOHNSTON/TORONTO STAR
Image
By Tanya Talaga Queen's Park Bureau

George Smitherman regrets he was unable to foresee problems at ORNGE but points the finger squarely at health ministry bureaucrats for failing to notice the brewing storm at the air ambulance service.

“I didn’t see it coming,” Smitherman told reporters after speaking to the all-party Legislative committee probing the ORNGE scandal. As the Liberal health minister from 2003 to 2008, Smitherman helped create ORNGE.

“For the rest of my life I will regret that.”

The second day of hearings was marred with what the opposition called legal delay tactics thrown up to protect Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office. The so-called tactics didn’t work; both Smitherman and McGuinty’s Principal Secretary Jamison Steeve took the stand on Wednesday.

Smitherman and Steeve, who at one point served as Smitherman’s chief of staff, conceded the government dropped the ball on the ORNGE file.

“I think, we as a government, could have done better all along the way in making sure there was accountability at ORNGE to the government,” Steeve said.

Earlier this month, Auditor General Jim McCarter issued a searing indictment of the government’s lack of oversight at ORNGE. He found Ontario threw $50 million in funding increases at the service over five years but never checked how public money was being spent.

Smitherman, who gained the reputation of “Furious George” for his bulldog tendencies in the House and ability to get things done, said he is personally disappointed he couldn’t tell former CEO Dr. Chris Mazza and the board of directors “would seek to leverage public benefit for personal gain.”

But bureaucrats at the health ministry — a $47 billion organization with thousands of employees — should have known better, continued Smitherman.

“I really wonder if the ministry did their job,” he said, adding it is likely the warning signals occurred before Health Minister Deb Matthews took over the position in 2009 from David Caplan.

Health ministers and deputies come and go, said Smitherman, but it is the bureaucrats who are there “for ever and ever.”

Smitherman told the committee when he was health minister, Mazza was on the sunshine salary disclosure list and he earned only $298,000 a year — not the $1.4 million revealed by the Star.

“If I was the minister, there was no way in hell Chris Mazza would make $1.4 million and that they’d cook up some scheme they’d give Ontario back 3 per cent of earnings or whatever the heck that was about,” he said referring to the promise ORNGE could bring revenue back to the province.

He called the hotly contested ORNGE performance agreement a “scapegoat” and that it was a document with “quite a bit of power for the ministry to bring an entity back to heel.”

Yet Matthews has continually thrown Smitherman “under the bus” for what happened at ORNGE, said NDP MPP France Gélinas, a committee member. “She blamed him for not putting in an accountability agreement that wasn’t robust enough,” she said.

Earlier in the day, the ORNGE hearings ground to a halt over legal disputes such as whether a government lawyer should be present due to the Ontario Provincial Police probe.

Progressive Conservative MPP Frank Klees called the delay an “obstruction” and “unacceptable.”

Klees, also a committee member, noted during the federal Gomery Commission a parallel police and Parliamentary investigation occurred at the same time. Led by Justice John Gomery, the commission investigated the sponsorship scandal.

However, Liberal MPP David Zimmer said when there is the “possibility and probability of complex litigation” this is “no time for this committee to be flying by the seat of its pants.”

The committee may hold extra days of sitting next week during the Easter break.

[EA757]

Published On Fri Apr 6 2012

Kevin Donovan
Staff Reporter

Ontario had the power to rein in ORNGE, according to a 2008 internal government document prepared by the ministry of finance.

But top officials at the ministry of health disagreed and allowed problems identified early in ORNGE’s life to fester, leading to the current scandal involving the air ambulance service.

The Star has obtained hundreds of government emails and documents from the 2008-2011 time period. In them, senior bureaucrats at both the health and finance ministries grapple with the growing ambitions of founder Dr. Chris Mazza.

The finance ministry, the documents show, told the health ministry that it had a “golden share” in ORNGE as the only funder, and also that under the Ambulance Act it had the “ability to direct” ORNGE to do almost anything it wanted to do.

Health ministry officials never acted on that, the documents show, and health minister Deb Matthews has said repeatedly she was told she lacked power to control the wayward agency. One health ministry document states categorically in 2008: “We believe that the province of Ontario does not control ORNGE.”

An ongoing Star investigation has revealed over the past three months that top officials at the premier’s office and the health ministry received warnings that ORNGE was evolving from a simple air ambulance service to a web of internationally focused companies, drawing ever more resources from the cash-strapped health ministry.

But until these documents surfaced it has not been clear if any government official took a hard look at the $150-million organization and its dreams and schemes.

The finance ministry, which watches over the provincial purse, did zero in on the issue beginning in 2008 and told health what it thought.

In one widely circulated document, titled “Indicators of Control,” the finance ministry states: “We feel the government can effectively govern the financial and operating policies of ORNGE.” The document was created because ORNGE did not want its financial statements to be consolidated with government accounts, meaning that any surplus would flow to government and any deficit would be paid by government.

The finance ministry initially won the fight to have the statements consolidated, but health ministry bureaucrats seemed more inclined to let ORNGE have free rein, so the end result was that ORNGE won the battle. Occasionally, a health bureaucrat would remark on how odd it was that this non-profit entity had suddenly created a raft of for-profit companies with unusual or number names, but largely ORNGE was left free of control.

For example, in November 2008 ORNGE discovered it had $5 million in surplus from provincial payments for its new land ambulance division. Normally, surpluses are returned to the provincial coffers. ORNGE vice-president Maria Renzella asked the health ministry if they could keep the money and use it for increasing costs involving their new helicopters.

Assistant deputy health minister Ruth Hawkins wrote back in March 2009, ORNGE it could keep the money.

Hawkins, whose responsibilities included oversight of ORNGE, has been on sick leave for the past two months and is unavailable for comment, one of her health ministry colleagues told the Star.

The documents do not show how ORNGE spent the $5 million. Mazza, the documents show, signed a document acknowledging that the money would be spent only on air ambulance-related expenditures.

Hawkins did write back to Mazza later in 2009 asking if ORNGE would consider complying with new provincial rules on expenses that prevent top executives from approving their own expenses and limit the money spent on booze at executive dinners and lunches.

Hawkins told Mazza ORNGE did not have to comply, but it would be good if it did. The documents do not indicate if ORNGE agreed.

The Star has contacted bureaucrats who authored the many emails and not one has responded to an interview request.

One health official, John Szpik, was involved in the ORNGE consolidation issue and in May 2009 wrote to six other senior health bureaucrats that he found it “odd” that ORNGE was unable to provide even a draft of its “financial results.” Szpik, a senior manager at health, also said he found it odd that “the spokesperson on ORNGE was their legal.”

The lawyer Szpik is referring to is former ORNGE counsel Alf Apps, and the documents obtained by the Star reveal Apps (who no longer represents ORNGE) was front and centre with most ORNGE-health ministry discussions.

In one of the documents, dated June 2008, Apps writes to the health ministry explaining that ORNGE non-profit has transferred $8.4 million of funds to its new charity, the ORNGE Foundation. This donation, revealed in a passing reference, is not explained further. The charity was shut down earlier this year.

Kevin Donovan can be reached at kdonovan@thestar.ca or 416-312-3503

[orngecrush]

Ornge did nothing wrong with private companies AG's report full of ...

Canadian Press
April 18, 2012

TORONTO - A former Liberal party president is defending his role as a lawyer to Ontario's troubled air ambulance service, which is under a criminal probe for financial "irregularities."

Alfred Apps says Ornge did nothing wrong in setting up a web of for-profit entities that Ontario's auditor general says used public money to make "questionable business deals."

Apps says Ornge's corporate structure — which he helped set up — is completely misunderstood, a situation he largely blamed on the auditor and the media.

In his testimony before a legislative committee, Apps says the auditor's report was "riddled with errors" and that media reports about Ornge were misleading.

Apps says he never benefited financially from the spinoff companies and the only money he received for his work was his salary from legal firm Fasken Martineau.

Auditor general Jim McCarter says he stands by his report on Ornge and noted that the governing Liberals agreed with his findings.

Apps, who stepped down as party president in January, also testified that he had no knowledge of any criminal activity at Ornge.

[orngecrush]

http://www.opseu.org/notices/orngeline/index.htm

[orngecrush]

Auditor General’s initial report on ORNGE ‘misleading,’ lawyer charges

A lawyer involved in many of ORNGE’s dealings says the provincial auditor’s initial report into the air ambulance service was “misleading” and that the government was fully briefed on the organization’s finances.

Alfred Apps, former president of the Liberal Party of Canada, gave the explosive testimony at an all-party, public accounts hearing into the ORNGE scandal on Wednesday.

The Progressive Conservative and New Democratic committee members were stunned by what Apps had to say.

“I think Mr. Apps today demonstrated, certainly an ability to spin information, he called into question the integrity of our auditor general,” said PC MPP Frank Klees.

“He made it very clear, on the other hand, the government of Ontario and a number of ministries were fully briefed on what the intent of ORNGE was and said nothing,” Klees said.
Apps began his testimony by saying his ability to properly respond to “endless” streams of allegations in the media has been severely circumscribed by professional duties of confidentiality to ORNGE and his job as a lawyer. ORNGE has a right to client-lawyer privilege, he said.

But the public does have a right to know, he insisted.

“The government and people of Ontario have every right to learn the truth about what the legal, accounting, investment banking and other financial professionals did for ORNGE, on behalf of ORNGE and why we did it,” he said.

It has been said ORNGE and its lawyers, “including me,” said Apps, misled the minister of health and the government.

“This, you will understand, is offensive in the extreme, particularly for someone of my personal background, my long history of civic engagement and my hard earned professional reputation,” Apps said.

The record speaks for itself, he said.

“To the extent of all matters within my knowledge, the board and management of ORNGE more than did their job and the government was thoroughly and painstakingly and in all cases truthfully briefed in advance of ORNGE taking any of these actions.

“If the government had ever raised any objections to anything I am confident ORNGE would not have proceeded.”

ORNGE was a “great Ontario company with an extraordinary global future,” he said.
But now it is a case study in the failure of public administration, but that is not due to a lack of transparency of ORNGE’s part or lack of government control.

However, there is an absence in parts of the public sector to properly understand and manage public-private partnerships.

When asked by NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh, a committee member, what was the problem at ORNGE, Apps said based on what he has seen, the only issue is the salary paid and whether or not that was appropriate.

“Because everything else I have read is frankly wrong,” he said.

Health Minister Deb Matthews should “justifiably” feel misled, said Apps.

“I believe the draft report tabled by the auditor general in November was so riddled with error,” he said. “If I had been the minister, and I had gotten it, I would have had the same reaction when coupled with information about the salary.”

Last month, Auditor General Jim McCarter issued a searing indictment of the provincial government’s lack of oversight at ORNGE.

He found Ontario threw $50 million in funding increases at the service over five years but never checked how taxpayers’ money was being spent.

McCarter and his team reported ORNGE air ambulance bought more aircraft than it needed; purchased a fleet of land ambulances that often sat idle; and used public money to fund a controversial real estate deal that put $9 million into a for-profit company owned by ORNGE executives.

However, the provincial government had oversight over ORNGE as it saw regular financial statements and were well aware of them, Apps said.

“ORNGE’s financial statements, including with respect to its for profit subsidiaries were always audited by KMG, provided to the government and included to public accounts,” he said.

What little Apps said he understood about an agreement with Italian helicopter manufacturer’s AgustaWestland, he saw “absolutely nothing inappropriate” with it.
“But I did not advise on it,” he said.

The OPP is investigating a questionable $6.7 million payment from Agusta Westland to ORNGE for marketing services.

“For the record, I also want to make it clear that I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing, criminal or otherwise, in respect to anyone associated with ORNGE.”

Apps said there is no way he could adequately address all ORNGE questions in the 30 minutes he was given to testify. “Serious issues of public policy and health administration are at stake,” he said.

Important questions of justice and reputations of individuals are also at stake, added Apps who vowed to come back as much as needed to answer questions. “This is important public business.”

[FlyGy]

I'll bet no one saw this one coming either.....except for everyone who knows what happened in Nova Scotia perhaps.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/ple ... story.html

EDMONTON - Progressive Conservative Leader Alison Redford pledged $10 million in additional funding for STARS air ambulance at a campaign stop in Grande Prairie Saturday afternoon.

“This PC government is committed to ensuring the Grande Prairie region has a seamless web of emergency and medical support services,” Redford said.

“I think all Albertans know just how special STARS is. ... A PC government in budget 2013 is committed to tripling the amount we fund (STARS), adding $10 million annually.”

[markymarkl]

YEP I believe the folks running ORNGE really got screwed-----NOT!!!!!! I and all the other peeps in ONTARIO have to pay the bill. WTF does the auditor general have to gain by presenting a false or inaccurate report?? PLEASE explain that one to me!

Auditor General’s initial report on ORNGE ‘misleading,’ lawyer charges

A lawyer involved in many of ORNGE’s dealings says the provincial auditor’s initial report into the air ambulance service was “misleading” and that the government was fully briefed on the organization’s finances.

Alfred Apps, former president of the Liberal Party of Canada, gave the explosive testimony at an all-party, public accounts hearing into the ORNGE scandal on Wednesday.

The Progressive Conservative and New Democratic committee members were stunned by what Apps had to say.

“I think Mr. Apps today demonstrated, certainly an ability to spin information, he called into question the integrity of our auditor general,” said PC MPP Frank Klees.

“He made it very clear, on the other hand, the government of Ontario and a number of ministries were fully briefed on what the intent of ORNGE was and said nothing,” Klees said.
Apps began his testimony by saying his ability to properly respond to “endless” streams of allegations in the media has been severely circumscribed by professional duties of confidentiality to ORNGE and his job as a lawyer. ORNGE has a right to client-lawyer privilege, he said.

But the public does have a right to know, he insisted.

“The government and people of Ontario have every right to learn the truth about what the legal, accounting, investment banking and other financial professionals did for ORNGE, on behalf of ORNGE and why we did it,” he said.

It has been said ORNGE and its lawyers, “including me,” said Apps, misled the minister of health and the government.

“This, you will understand, is offensive in the extreme, particularly for someone of my personal background, my long history of civic engagement and my hard earned professional reputation,” Apps said.

The record speaks for itself, he said.

“To the extent of all matters within my knowledge, the board and management of ORNGE more than did their job and the government was thoroughly and painstakingly and in all cases truthfully briefed in advance of ORNGE taking any of these actions.

“If the government had ever raised any objections to anything I am confident ORNGE would not have proceeded.”

ORNGE was a “great Ontario company with an extraordinary global future,” he said.
But now it is a case study in the failure of public administration, but that is not due to a lack of transparency of ORNGE’s part or lack of government control.

However, there is an absence in parts of the public sector to properly understand and manage public-private partnerships.

When asked by NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh, a committee member, what was the problem at ORNGE, Apps said based on what he has seen, the only issue is the salary paid and whether or not that was appropriate.

“Because everything else I have read is frankly wrong,” he said.

Health Minister Deb Matthews should “justifiably” feel misled, said Apps.

“I believe the draft report tabled by the auditor general in November was so riddled with error,” he said. “If I had been the minister, and I had gotten it, I would have had the same reaction when coupled with information about the salary.”

Last month, Auditor General Jim McCarter issued a searing indictment of the provincial government’s lack of oversight at ORNGE.

He found Ontario threw $50 million in funding increases at the service over five years but never checked how taxpayers’ money was being spent.

McCarter and his team reported ORNGE air ambulance bought more aircraft than it needed; purchased a fleet of land ambulances that often sat idle; and used public money to fund a controversial real estate deal that put $9 million into a for-profit company owned by ORNGE executives.

However, the provincial government had oversight over ORNGE as it saw regular financial statements and were well aware of them, Apps said.

“ORNGE’s financial statements, including with respect to its for profit subsidiaries were always audited by KMG, provided to the government and included to public accounts,” he said.

What little Apps said he understood about an agreement with Italian helicopter manufacturer’s AgustaWestland, he saw “absolutely nothing inappropriate” with it.
“But I did not advise on it,” he said.

The OPP is investigating a questionable $6.7 million payment from Agusta Westland to ORNGE for marketing services.

“For the record, I also want to make it clear that I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing, criminal or otherwise, in respect to anyone associated with ORNGE.”

Apps said there is no way he could adequately address all ORNGE questions in the 30 minutes he was given to testify. “Serious issues of public policy and health administration are at stake,” he said.

Important questions of justice and reputations of individuals are also at stake, added Apps who vowed to come back as much as needed to answer questions. “This is important public business.”

[markymarkl]

"This, you will understand, is offensive in the extreme, particularly for someone of my personal background, my long history of civic engagement and my hard earned professional reputation,” Apps said"

I'm sorry can we send you a check to make you feel better! WTF good old Toronto two step!!!

When are the warrants coming out-that is what I want to KNOW, if this goes away HOLLY sh#t people wake UP.

Ontario look at your hydro bills can you spell debt retirement charge! Not sure what bill they can add this one 2

Sorry really pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[orngecrush]

To the People of Ontario

April 19, 2012

Thank you for your business and your trust.

Some of you may know that Canadian Helicopters has been the provider of helicopter Emergency Medical Services to the Province of Ontario. Many may not know we have done so uninterrupted since the inception of the program in 1977. Over that period we delivered this critical service through the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and most recently under contract to Ornge.

During our years of service, we transported over 140,000 patients, flying 155,000 hours from bases in Ottawa, Toronto, London, Sudbury, Moosonee, Thunder Bay and Kenora. From landing at accident scenes in busy urban environments to moving critical patients from remote communities we remained committed to serving Ontario.

Acknowledged as one of the safest EMS Helicopter Operations in the world, we maintained the delivery of service at an industry leading level. We provided launch capable helicopters, each staffed with four highly skilled crew members, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year – more than 97% of the time.

We delivered the highest levels of service because of the trust you placed in us and our employees. We provided a group of experienced competent professionals, including pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, paramedics and support staff who came to work really wanting to do a good job and did so with enthusiasm, believing in who they worked for and what they did. We had many people with over 20 years service – and we are truly thankful for their loyalty. It was a team effort and every single member played an important role.

We wish to thank our managers and our front line employees for their dedication to patient care and safety, and want them to know we are proud to have worked with them.

March 31st marked the final handover of the service to Ornge, who commenced providing the service on January 13, 2012 in stages and base-by-base, and who will now provide the service on an exclusive basis.

We at Canadian Helicopters believe we have provided reliable, safe and efficient Emergency Medical Service to the people of Ontario. We hope you agree.

Thank you for the 35 years.

Yours sincerely,
Don Wall
President and Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Helicopters Group Inc.

---

http://pbdba.lfpress.com/adsonline/power/65323127.pdf

[orngecrush]

"The committee has asked Speaker Dave Levac to issue a warrant for Mazza, who was replaced in January along with Ornge's entire board of directors, to appear on May 16."

http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/109315 ... rong-apps/

[EA757]

"The committee has asked Speaker Dave Levac to issue a warrant for Mazza



Waste of taxpayer time and money...

[Colonel Sanders]

When they issue a warrant for Dalton, then it will be time to celebrate.

[ipilot54]

Star’s ORNGE investigations nominated for Michener Award
Published 9 minutes ago

The Toronto Star has been nominated for a 2011 Michener Award for its coverage of Ontario’s air ambulance service, known as ORNGE.

The stories, written and reported by Kevin Donovan, “took readers into the heart of an unaccountable and arrogant non-profit agency,” according to the Michener Awards Foundation.

Read more:The Star’s investigation of ORNGE and the fallout

They “revealed a stunning lack of government oversight at a critical public service where managers benefitted over those people the air ambulance was supposed to help.”

Described as “tenacious reporting,” the series of stories led to the removal of ORNGE’s management and board. The provincial auditor general also expanded its probe into activities at ORNGE and a criminal investigation is underway.

The Michener Awards, founded in 1970 by the late Roland Michener, then Governor General, award excellence in public service journalism.

The other nominees include:

• CBC Vancouver, for its work on systemic sexual harassment within the RCMP;

• The Globe and Mail, for an investigation into Ontario government policies for funding cancer drugs for patients;

• La Presse, for revealing the findings of two secret engineering reports that the Champlain Bridge in Montreal — the most heavily travelled span in Canada — was falling apart;

• The Times Colonist, for stories on a provincial government policy that forced people with developmental disabilities to move from group homes to cheaper accommodations;

• The Windsor Star, for exposing the beating of a local doctor by a Windsor detective, and the web of brutality, deceit and cover-ups within the Windsor Police Service.

Here are some stories from The Star’s ORNGE investigation that stood out:

January, 2012: “Marketing services” an ORNGE for-profit company did for an Italian firm is not worth the $6.7 million the ORNGE firm was paid. Click here to read ‘ORNGE’s mysterious $6.7 million payment’.

December, 2011: Health Minister Deb Matthews asked Ontario’s auditor general to step in after The Star discovered Matthews had been unsuccessful in solving the mystery of ORNGE executive salaries. Click here to read ‘Ontario auditor to dig deeper into air ambulance executive salaries’.

December, 2011: The Star discovered a series of mistakes that led to a 44-minute delay in dispatching an air ambulance helicopter from Toronto in a bid to save a 21-year-old cyclist, hit by a truck in Uxbridge. Click here to read ‘Why was ORNGE chopper delayed 44 minutes as cyclist lay dying in rural hospital?’

December, 2011: After two weeks of stonewalling by the air ambulance service, The Star revealed ORNGE boss Dr. Chris Mazza was paid $1.4 million, making him the highest publicly paid official in Ontario. Click here to read ‘ORNGE president was paid $1.4 million per year’

December, 2011: The air ambulance helicopter at ORNGE’s Thunder Bay base was grounded hundreds of times because no paramedics were available for emergency flights. Click here to read ‘Shortage of paramedics leaves ORNGE helicopter idle’

[ipilot54]

Ex-ORNGE boss Chris Mazza served with warrant
Published 41 minutes ago

Rob Ferguson and Robert Benzie Queen’s Park Bureau

A rare order has been served on Dr. Chris Mazza, the disgraced former head of ORNGE, to appear next month before MPPs probing the scandal at the embattled air ambulance service.

A warrant from Speaker of the Legislature Dave Levac has been delivered to Mazza, who earned $1.4 million a year before he was fired following a Star investigation into high salaries, unusual business deals and patient safety concerns.

Related: ORNGE: Committee seeks to compel former CEO to testify

It’s the first time in 21 years that a warrant has been issued, which stems from Mazza’s dismissal of an earlier request that he appear before the Legislature’s public accounts committee, Progressive Conservative MPP Frank Klees said Monday.

“He (Mazza) now has to,” added Klees, who has led his party’s attacks on ORNGE and sponsored the motion for a warrant.

Mazza, who has gone into seclusion and refused media interviews, has been ordered to show up on May 16 to answer questions on his role in the troubles at ORNGE that have also led to a police probe.

Ontario Provincial Police are investigating financial irregularities at ORNGE, which gets $150 million a year in taxpayer funds but had a web of private, for-profit companies and loaned Mazza cash to purchase a tony Etobicoke home that has since been sold.

“We continue to hear from witnesses that Dr. Mazza gave the directions to structure these for-profit companies, it was Dr. Mazza who was paid $1.4 million of taxpayer money, it was Dr. Mazza who took out a loan of tax dollars granted by the board that we want some answers on,” said Klees (Newmarket—Aurora).

The warrant was served on Mazza, a former emergency room physician, on Friday by the Legislature’s top cop, Sergeant-at-Arms Dennis Clark, Levac said Monday.

“I beg to inform the House that I have laid upon the table a copy of my warrant . . . respecting testimony of Dr. Chris Mazza, which was delivered in person, on my order, by the sergeant-at-arms on April 20,” Levac told the Legislature.

If Mazza refuses, or if any reasons for not showing up are deemed insufficient by the committee, he can be called to appear before the Legislature prior to further steps being taken, said Klees.

Health Minister Deb Matthews welcomed the testimony from anyone shedding light into what happened at ORNGE.

“This is an absolutely appropriate opportunity for the standing committee to call whoever they want and ask whatever questions they want,” said Matthews.

Also appearing before the committee will be Don Guy, Premier Dalton McGuinty’s political mastermind who has run the 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011 Liberal election campaigns.

“He’s indicated a willingness to testify,” Government House leader John Milloy said.

Guy confirmed his appearance has been scheduled for May 2.

“Looking forward to it,” he said in an email Monday.

Last week, Alf Apps, former president of the Liberal Party of Canada and formerly a lawyer at the Toronto firm of Fasken Martineau doing work for ORNGE, told the committee that he twice consulted Guy for help with the air ambulance service.

Appearing before the committee this Wednesday are former ORNGE chair Rainer Beltzner and lawyer Lynne Golding, director of the health law practice group at Fasken Martineau and the wife of federal cabinet minister Tony Clement.

The last time a speaker’s warrant was issued was during the 1991 imbroglio concerning doctors’ billings and questions over former New Democrat MPP Shelley Martel’s access to confidential information. An inquiry was held and the warrant went to Sudbury businessman Keith Harfield, a reluctant witness.

Related: ORNGE: Committee seeks to compel former CEO to testify

Star’s ORNGE investigations nominated for Michener Award