The Southern Air Ambulance service, which provides medevac services to the Province of Manitoba (Winnipeg International), Canada, has been suspended ostensibly due to a pilot shortage, with half of its eight pilot positions currently empty.

However, the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union (MGEU) believes the service was purposely left to founder, in order to lead to its privatisation.

Commenting in the Winnipeg Sun, MGEU president Michelle Gawronsky says the service could have been retained had it been properly managed.

"They [the government] have refused to fill any of the pilot positions that come up due to retirements or people moving," Gawronsky said. "The service has been starved of people to provide it, to the point now that they shut it down." She added that she believes it will now go to private tender.

The service, which caters to stable patients who are located more than 2.5 hours' drive from a health facility, flew 336 patients in the 2015/2016 fiscal year. Emergency air services provided by STARS and Lifeflight are still operational.