Opening Statement before the Standing Committee on Health
Pandemic Preparedness, Surveillance, and Border Control Measures
(Report 8—2021 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada)
Securing Personal Protective Equipment and Medical Devices
(Report 10—2021 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada)
Enforcement of Quarantine and COVID‑19 Testing Orders—Public Health Agency of Canada
(Report 15—2021 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada)
28 February 2022
Andrew Hayes
Deputy Auditor General
Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to discuss our reports on the Public Health Agency of Canada’s response to the COVID‑19 pandemic. First, I would like to acknowledge that this hearing is taking place on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People. Joining me today are Chantal Richard, Carol McCalla, and Jean Goulet, who were the principals responsible for the 3 audits that I will be discussing today.
If I had to sum up our audits of pandemic preparedness, surveillance, and response, I would say that on the whole, the Public Health Agency of Canada was not as well prepared as it should have been to deal with this crisis. However, as we saw across organizations tasked with pandemic response that we have audited to date, public servants rallied and adjusted their activities in real time.
In our March 2021 report that looked at the preparedness side, we found that not all emergency and response plans were up to date and tested at the onset of the pandemic. Data sharing agreements with the provinces and territories were also not finalized.
In addition, the agency relied on a risk assessment tool that was untested and not designed to consider pandemic risk. As a result, despite growing numbers of COVID‑19 cases in Canada and worldwide, the agency continued to assess the pandemic risk as low. The Global Public Health Intelligence Network did not issue an alert about the virus that would become known to cause COVID‑19.
Once the pandemic hit Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency worked together to implement border restrictions and quarantine requirements. However, we found that the Public Health Agency was unprepared for a nationwide quarantine. For example, it struggled with a paper system to gather travellers’ information. This hindered efforts to follow up with individuals at risk of not complying with quarantine orders. As a result, the agency didn’t know whether 66% of incoming travellers who were required to quarantine in fact did so.
Our December 2021 report showed an improvement in the administration of 14‑day quarantine orders since our initial audit, partly because the agency had moved to an electronic system to collect travellers’ information. However, between January and June 2021, it was still unable to confirm whether 37% of inbound travellers complied with quarantine orders. That is still a large number of people to lose sight of.
This second audit also looked at the enforcement of new testing orders. We found that the agency was either missing or unable to match 30% of COVID‑19 test results to travellers arriving in Canada. In addition, the agency lacked records for 75% of travellers arriving by plane, making it impossible to know whether these travellers quarantined at authorized hotels as ordered.
Our audit of personal protective equipment and medical devices released in May 2021 also showed that the Public Health Agency of Canada was not as prepared as it should have been to deal with the surge in requests for equipment from the provinces and territories triggered by the pandemic. This was because the agency had not addressed long-standing issues affecting the management of the national emergency strategic stockpile, though these had been raised in audits and reviews going back more than a decade.
Despite these pre‑existing issues, the agency worked with Public Services and Procurement Canada and Health Canada and adapted its activities to help meet needs for personal protective equipment and medical devices across the country. For example, the agency shifted to a bulk purchasing strategy and improved how it assessed needs and allocated equipment, among other changes.
If there is one overall take-away from these audits, it is that long-standing known issues, such as outdated systems and practices, must be dealt with. This would allow government organizations to be better prepared for unforeseen events such as this pandemic.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening remarks. We would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have. Thank you.