Auditor general criticizes N.B.’s COVID-19 pandemic preparedness, record keeping – CBC
Paul Martin makes several recommendations in audit released Thursday
Sep 07, 2023
The New Brunswick government reacted quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic with unprecedented measures aimed at saving lives, including the province’s first state of emergency, according to Auditor General Paul Martin’s performance audit.
But Martin said he also found problems with the government’s level of preparedness, decision-making process, record keeping and communications.
The province did not have an updated pandemic plan, based on lessons learned from the H1N1 experience, said the audit report presented Thursday to the legislature’s standing committee on public accounts.
In addition, the roles and responsibilities of executive committees were not always clearly defined or documented, and no records were maintained to support meetings of the COVID core — the group of senior officials who supported the cabinet committee on COVID-19.
“We found six instances out of 14 sampled restrictions in mandatory orders where public health measures were supported by verbal updates only,” the report says. “One mandatory order was revised the next day, after decision-makers asserted that it did not reflect the intended decision.”
