Coulson Aircrane, a subsidiary of Coulson Aviation (Canada), has filed a lawsuit in the Court of King’s Bench seeking to overturn an agreement between the Province of Saskatchewan and Conair Group for the purchase of four DHC-8-Q400(AT)s, retrofitted for firefighting purposes, for CAD187 million Canadian dollars (USD135.5 million).

The company argued that the provincial government had awarded a “very large contract for forest fire airplanes, without affording any reasonable opportunity to Coulson or any other competitor to bid on the contract,” CBC News reported.

In a statement to ch-aviation, Coulson Aviation added that government procedures, especially for significant amounts of money, should go through a fair and open procurement process. While the company does not currently build Q400 Type 2 airtankers, “if anyone wanted one, we would build and sell them with the same specifications for half the price,” it pointed out.

According to Coulson, a used Q400 can be purchased for about CAD5 million (USD3.6 million) and retrofitted for an additional CAD5 million, yet Conair is charging over CAD46 million (USD33.3 million) per unit. Furthermore, Coulson highlighted that the executive director of air operations at the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) and reportedly a key decision maker on the purchase, is a former maintenance director for Conair.

Conair Group said in a public statement that it was aware of the legal matter. While it cannot specifically comment on the topic, “the insinuations made against Conair not only undermine the integrity of our company but also detract from the critical importance of providing governments with the best possible tools to protect the public.”

It added: “Safety is also central to any discussion around a vital firefighting resource. Conair is the only company currently delivering large airtankers certified by Transport Canada.”

In late June, the Province of Saskatchewan added its first DHC-8-Q400(AT), C-GOVQ (msn 4256). The province had to seek new aircraft after facing a forest fire crisis during the spring because several planes in its fleet were out of service, some due to a lack of parts.