The Mayor of Kapuskasing is hoping other municipalities will support a resolution for the provincial government to help Hope Air with its financial situation.
The company, that provides free flights, hotel accommodations, meals and airport ground transportation to patients throughout Northern Ontario is looking for funding to maintain its services.
Dave Plourde says Hope Air is a lifeline to people in the region when they have no other resort to get to important medical appointments.
“Just leaves a gap in the system where we struggle to find ways to get to those appointments that sometimes we are not ready for,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how wealthy you are or what part of the population you come from you can never be ready for something like that to happen.”
Plourde says it’s not just a northern Ontario issue but believes that even communities from the south will also get behind it.
“The presentation that was given to us where someone from Windsor even that seeks treatment in Toronto,” he said. “It’s really a three-hour drive but with traffic could be six. Those services could be open to everybody in the province.”
