Lac La Biche County council is refusing to let the city of Edmonton clip their wings without putting in one last push to secure a more viable primary option for northern Medevac flights.
Plans to close the City Centre Airport will cause air ambulance flights from Lac La Biche to land at Edmonton International Airport, which is a 40-minute drive to the nearest hospital.
During a presentation to council, Al Hoggan, Lac La Biche County’s senior manager of Protective Services, delivered further news showing that all roads are pointing to Edmonton International Airport as the primary landing bay for northern flights after the Edmonton City Centre closes its doors in 2013, with Villeneuve Airport, near St. Albert as the backup airport.
“I’m absolutely disgusted at this,” said Ward 7 councillor John Nowak.
According to Hoggan, it appears Namao Airport is now firmly off the table as a viable primary option, leaving Villeneuve as the logical choice. Hoggan also handed out several documents to county councillors showing a detailed breakdown of travel-time statistics, number of flights and the amount of serious code red flights from the Lac La Biche region. According to the statistics, the move to the Edmonton International would take the northern Medevac response time to the Royal Alexandra from five minutes, the best in Western Canada, to 40 minutes to the very least.
“With this decision the government is taking us from a first rate medical system to dead last in Western Canada,” Nowak said. “I can’t believe that.”
Councillor MJ Siebold was adamant that although the news is grim, the fight is not over, and northern communities cannot accept Villeneuve as simply a “backup” option.
“We need to have a designated primary option for northern communities,” she said. “It makes no sense to have Edmonton International as our primary option, people will die if that happens.”
Lac La Biche County was part of a campaign to save the Edmonton City Centre airport in November 2011, sending letters to other northern communities and gathering statistics and information. Councillor Tim Thompson stressed that although this is a very passionate issue for council, the next viable step would be to lobby the government instead of spending more of the taxpayer’s money on funding campaigns.
“We’ve had quite a few letters and response from other northern regions, but Lac La Biche is shouldering the entire financial burden. We have the statistics, now it’s time to actually confront ministers and get answers,” he said.
Council, in a last ditch effort to make their voice heard is planning to organize a special meeting with the Minister of Municipal Affairs Doug Griffins, and hopefully Premier Alison Redford at the 2012 Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) conference from Nov. 13-15 in Edmonton.
Deputy Mayor Gail Broadbent and councillor Nowak will work with several county members to prepare and organize a presentation to try one last time to change the primary option airport for northern flights.
“I think this is definitely something we can organize. This can be our final push to make things right,” said CAO Roy Brideau.
According to the statistics prepared by Hoggan, the Lac La Biche region accounted for 52 of the 213 code red flights in Alberta from April 2009 to March 2010, the highest percentage of code reds for any region in Alberta.
“It’s not a done deal until the bulldozers start running,” Nowak said.
