Former OPP rescue chief shocked by chopper base closure

The OPP's decision to close the search and rescue helicopter base in Sudbury and move it to Orillia is a bad move, says the former leader of the force's helicopter section.

"I was more than astonished when I heard they were pulling it back to Orillia," said Norm Kerr, who, when he retired in 2001, was the OPP's chief search and rescue pilot. He lives in Greater Sudbury.

"It's a much more remote area up here than southern Ontario. So there's greater need here for an aircraft dedicated to emergency response."

Kerr said most of their calls were related to hunters or fishermen missing in remote areas of the North, a problem less common in the more populated southern part of the province. The base moved here after a 1991 review concluded that the most efficient use of the OPP's two helicopters was to station one at the new OPP headquarters in Orillia, and one in Sudbury.

"Sudbury could provide a decent response to southern Ontario, in case of a backup need, and provide an excellent response to the more populous areas of northeastern Ontario," Kerr said, of the reason Sudbury was chosen. "So it's rather a shocking move to me."

It makes even less sense because Orillia is located in a snowbelt, Kerr said. When he was on the job, he said they frequently responded to calls in London or Ottawa because the Orillia base was closed due to weather.

"You put them in one location, if the weather is out, it's out,” Kerr said. “You have no other options."

A spokesperson for the OPP, Sgt. Carolle Dionne, said the decision was the result of a review of operations. Not only will it save the force about $254,000 a year, it will allow the OPP to expand operating hours to 6 a.m.-midnight each day. Currently the normal hours are 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

"It was an internal decision," Dionne said, when asked whether the province or the OPP instigated the move. "It's the result of reviewing the service delivery and the needs of the organization."

There are three people in Sudbury affected by the move, and the OPP will no longer lease a hangar at the Sudbury Airport or contract out maintenance work on the helicopter. The OPP said no one is losing their jobs due to the relocation.

"Why Orillia and not Sudbury? That's a good question," she said, when asked why the operation wasn't centralized in Sudbury. "I can't really say for sure why one area and not the other."

Dionne did say that it will take the helicopter about an hour to fly from Orillia when responding to calls from Sudbury.

Dan Melanson, who has been in the helicopter business for years and is president of Trend Tec Canada, said the decision is even more ridiculous because the added costs of flying to Sudbury to respond to calls will quickly eat into any savings.

Commercial helicopter operators estimate it costs $1,800 an hour to fly the helicopters, so a two-hour trip to Sudbury and back to Orillia is double that. If the helicopter responds to even 100 calls in the area in the course of a year, the savings quickly dry up.

"You may be saving $250,000 on paper, but in reality, you may save $40,000 or $50,000, if that," Melanson said. "And the service to the Northern Ontario section of the province is greatly diminished.

"And they're putting all of their helicopters in one location, in the middle of the snow belt ... If they get a call because a fisherman or someone is lost up in Attawapiskat or Timmins, the two helicopters are going to be sitting, staring at one another because there's a snowstorm in Orillia.

"It doesn't make any sense for this to go forward."

Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault said Thursday he learned of the decision on Tuesday and is determined to fight to change the OPP's mind.

"I respect the OPP and all of the work they do, but at the end of the day, if it's about efficiencies, the costs we're going to save is not worth one person's life," Thibeault said. "I'm doing everything I can to ensure we try and stop this.

"It's not just Sudbury — that helicopter is for the entire northeast. Now they're in Orillia and they get a call about a senior who's gone missing in Elliot Lake. There's going to be serious delays in getting up there."

Thibeault said a similar move has been tried three times before and was stopped. He's talking to officials at the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to try and get the decision reversed.

He's even heard from OPP officers who say moving both helicopters out of the North and into the snowbelt makes no sense.

"It's not just about hunters anymore, in my opinion,” he said. “If you look at it, 80 per cent of the work they do is for seniors that go missing with dementia.

"We all know we have an aging population. We all know that many of our northern rural communities have become retirement meccas. And now we're moving it further away? I just don't think this is one of the better decisions that have been made."