Blue times at ORNGE
Well....a lot of folks got screwed.....which is nothing new in the Helicopter business!
So no-one thinks there is a scintila of smell between the whole operation going through serious upheaval due to federal investigations, morale, human factors and a crash?
Mmmm interesting, very very interesting.....
Mmmm interesting, very very interesting.....
Whistleblower pays the price at Ornge
Trevor Kidd blew the whistle on mismanagement at the Ornge air ambulance scandal.
Now he says he’s paying the price.
The Thunder Bay paramedic was transferred to Windsor in 2008 to work at what was supposed to be one of 10 new land bases the provincial government required Ornge to open.
Kidd, 35, sold his Thunder Bay house, bought one in Windsor and moved in at the end of October, 2008.
“The Friday I moved into my house, they sent an e-mail to everyone asking them to come to a meeting,” he told me.
They were told Ornge wasn’t opening the Windsor base and only opening two others half time.
He was given the option of moving to another base, but told his bosses he’d prefer to take six months’ severance, stay in Windsor and find a job there.
He was told since the land base hadn’t opened, technically he was still working out of Thunder Bay, so there’d be no severance.
His main concern are the costs he incurred selling and buying houses.
“Ornge CEO Chris Mazza and the management team said everyone would be entitled to moving expenses and for those of us who’d bought houses, to sell the houses and submit expenses,” he told me.
“They couldn’t promise they’d cover everything, but they’d see what they could do.”
His union, CAW, told him they’d also fight for him.
At that point, Kidd resigned from Ornge and went back to school. He took Ornge to court and the case ended up at the OLRB. It was dismissed last summer because they said he’d missed the deadline or filing, even though he wasn’t aware of any deadlines. He was told to pursue his claim through the courts.
He’s asking for $42,000 in realty fees, land transfer taxes, legal fees and other costs associated with the move.
Kidd says he’s all but given up on the legal process.
He’s going back to school and wants to get out of the paramedic business and go into teaching.
Last year, he appeared before a Queen’s Park committee probing the Ornge scandal. He wonders if it’s just a coincidence that the OLRB dropped his case just days after his last appearance in 2012 — when a Liberal MPP demanded he name his sources.
Kidd told the committee he’d quit Ornge in disgust over safety issues after a girl in northwestern Ontario died because of staffing issues at the troubled air ambulance operation.
Tory critic Frank Klees says Kidd and his colleagues were punished for their honesty.
“He was a whistleblower on this and there’s no doubt in my mind that his providing that forthright testimony to us has affected the rest of his life,” Klees said.
He’s not the only whistleblower targeted. Another Thunder Bay paramedic was suspended, although he has since been reinstated.
“These paramedics were hired and they uprooted their families on the promise of these employment commitments that were made,” Klees told me.
“Like many other things, Chris Mazza and his management team decided that their schemes were more important than delivering the core services that Ornge was mandated to deliver,” he said.
Klees said the reason these land-based bases couldn’t open — even though they were desperately needed and even though the province was funding them — was because Ornge was diverting its resources to a web of other enterprises.
Last year, in a scathing report, provincial auditor general Jim McCarter slammed Ornge over the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted in an attempt to privatize the air ambulance system.
Kidd and others who raised the alarm deserve better.
The worst thing about dropping the court case, Kidd says, is that no one has been held accountable in any meaningful way for what happened at Ornge.
We can all wring our hands and tut-tut, but no one has been punished.
Except, apparently, the whistleblowers.
Now he says he’s paying the price.
The Thunder Bay paramedic was transferred to Windsor in 2008 to work at what was supposed to be one of 10 new land bases the provincial government required Ornge to open.
Kidd, 35, sold his Thunder Bay house, bought one in Windsor and moved in at the end of October, 2008.
“The Friday I moved into my house, they sent an e-mail to everyone asking them to come to a meeting,” he told me.
They were told Ornge wasn’t opening the Windsor base and only opening two others half time.
He was given the option of moving to another base, but told his bosses he’d prefer to take six months’ severance, stay in Windsor and find a job there.
He was told since the land base hadn’t opened, technically he was still working out of Thunder Bay, so there’d be no severance.
His main concern are the costs he incurred selling and buying houses.
“Ornge CEO Chris Mazza and the management team said everyone would be entitled to moving expenses and for those of us who’d bought houses, to sell the houses and submit expenses,” he told me.
“They couldn’t promise they’d cover everything, but they’d see what they could do.”
His union, CAW, told him they’d also fight for him.
At that point, Kidd resigned from Ornge and went back to school. He took Ornge to court and the case ended up at the OLRB. It was dismissed last summer because they said he’d missed the deadline or filing, even though he wasn’t aware of any deadlines. He was told to pursue his claim through the courts.
He’s asking for $42,000 in realty fees, land transfer taxes, legal fees and other costs associated with the move.
Kidd says he’s all but given up on the legal process.
He’s going back to school and wants to get out of the paramedic business and go into teaching.
Last year, he appeared before a Queen’s Park committee probing the Ornge scandal. He wonders if it’s just a coincidence that the OLRB dropped his case just days after his last appearance in 2012 — when a Liberal MPP demanded he name his sources.
Kidd told the committee he’d quit Ornge in disgust over safety issues after a girl in northwestern Ontario died because of staffing issues at the troubled air ambulance operation.
Tory critic Frank Klees says Kidd and his colleagues were punished for their honesty.
“He was a whistleblower on this and there’s no doubt in my mind that his providing that forthright testimony to us has affected the rest of his life,” Klees said.
He’s not the only whistleblower targeted. Another Thunder Bay paramedic was suspended, although he has since been reinstated.
“These paramedics were hired and they uprooted their families on the promise of these employment commitments that were made,” Klees told me.
“Like many other things, Chris Mazza and his management team decided that their schemes were more important than delivering the core services that Ornge was mandated to deliver,” he said.
Klees said the reason these land-based bases couldn’t open — even though they were desperately needed and even though the province was funding them — was because Ornge was diverting its resources to a web of other enterprises.
Last year, in a scathing report, provincial auditor general Jim McCarter slammed Ornge over the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted in an attempt to privatize the air ambulance system.
Kidd and others who raised the alarm deserve better.
The worst thing about dropping the court case, Kidd says, is that no one has been held accountable in any meaningful way for what happened at Ornge.
We can all wring our hands and tut-tut, but no one has been punished.
Except, apparently, the whistleblowers.
.
Former ORNGE boss Chris Mazza claiming $1 million in unpaid bonuses
Former ORNGE boss Chris Mazza claiming $1 million in unpaid bonuses
.
Former ORNGE boss Chris Mazza claiming $1 million in unpaid bonuses
Former ORNGE boss Chris Mazza claiming $1 million in unpaid bonuses
.
Join Date: Oct 2002
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ORNGE S-76 attempts to assist Toronto Hydro in trimming local trees...
ORNGE helicopter grounded after landing accident in Northern Ontario
Interesting that the S-76s are still being used, 3½ years after the first AW139 was delivered. Rumor is that the service no longer intends to operate an all-AW139 fleet, and will instead launch a new effort to select a second type (i.e. to replace the remaining S-76s) at some stage in the future.
I/C
ORNGE helicopter grounded after landing accident in Northern Ontario
Interesting that the S-76s are still being used, 3½ years after the first AW139 was delivered. Rumor is that the service no longer intends to operate an all-AW139 fleet, and will instead launch a new effort to select a second type (i.e. to replace the remaining S-76s) at some stage in the future.
I/C
Not having EVER been near one, and only seen one or two, from what I understand the AW-139 is not all to happy about the cold, and also, someone who did not know jack-all about flying decided to design a medical interior of the helicopter, and made it so dang heavy and large they can't operate properly with it...
But as I said, I have never been in/on/near one so who knows.
Apparently they don't like back-talking tho!
Cheers
W.
But as I said, I have never been in/on/near one so who knows.
Apparently they don't like back-talking tho!
Cheers
W.
Winnie, I don't know who you're talking to, but they're talking smack!
The 139 loves the cold. Ask Alaska and Kazakhstan. Especially Kazakhstan. Those things used to freeze in an unheated hangar (-25 inside), but they would be wheeled outside every day and go flying with no problems (-30 to -40).
I think the record was 52 flights in one winters day with the 5 AW139's and a dispatch rate per month approaching 95% in what I would call a very harsh winter climate.
Then the poor machines would be subjected to +48 in the summer at the same base. That is an 88 degree Centigrade difference and it all just kept working.
The biggest problem seemed to be with Fuel valves freezing up, but a thump got them working again
The 139 loves the cold. Ask Alaska and Kazakhstan. Especially Kazakhstan. Those things used to freeze in an unheated hangar (-25 inside), but they would be wheeled outside every day and go flying with no problems (-30 to -40).
I think the record was 52 flights in one winters day with the 5 AW139's and a dispatch rate per month approaching 95% in what I would call a very harsh winter climate.
Then the poor machines would be subjected to +48 in the summer at the same base. That is an 88 degree Centigrade difference and it all just kept working.
The biggest problem seemed to be with Fuel valves freezing up, but a thump got them working again
25 Management Positions cut at ORNGE.
Mazza's Business Model done away with.
ORNGE cuts 25 jobs in management shake-up | Toronto Star
Mazza's Business Model done away with.
ORNGE cuts 25 jobs in management shake-up | Toronto Star
