Questions over disputed medevac contract surface at Nunavut legislature

Months have passed since the medevac contract for Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region was handed out to Aqsaqniq Airways Ltd. and then challenged — unsuccessfully— by Adlair Aviation Ltd..

But the dispute over the award surfaced again Feb. 21 in the Nunavut legislature, when Tagak Curley, MLA for Rankin Inlet North, addressed questions about the awarding of the medevac contract to Lorne Kusugak, minister of Community and Government Services.

Curley, who was health minister when the contract was handed out, questioned Aqsaqniq’s qualifications for the job.

“The people who are awarded contracts should have a proper licence and they should have been experienced in doing the work that they are contracted for,” Curley said.

Curley suggested Aqsaqniq — a joint venture with the Yellowknife-based air charter company Air Tindi, a subsidiary of Discovery Air, didn’t hold an air ambulance charter license and doesn’t own any aircraft.

“It is my understanding that Aqsaqniq Airways does not even own a single aircraft. How can the government justify awarding such an important contract to a company that exists only on paper? Can the minister answer this question?” It is my position that the only criteria that the government should be considering when awarding these contracts is performance. What is the government’s position on this matter? How can a company that exists only on paper be awarded a contract?”

Kusugak, who defended how the contract was granted, promised to check into Aqsaqniq’s qualifications.

“We described exactly what kind of work they were to do and they would need to have their own company and owned by private people. This is how the procurement process was done and it was done through the tendering procedure. It was in the newspaper,” he said.

Health and social services has participated in the evaluation of the proposals to run the air ambulance service, which had been held by Adlair for 20 years, Kusugak noted.