In a hard-hitting evaluate launched at the moment, Auditor Normal Karen Hogan took the nation’s main pandemic response company to activity for failures in early warning, surveillance, threat assessments, data-sharing with the provinces and follow-up on Canadian travellers who have been ordered into quarantine.
“The company was not adequately ready to answer the pandemic, and it underestimated the potential impression of the virus on the onset of the pandemic,” stated the AG’s evaluate — one among three that appeared on the Liberal authorities’s administration of the COVID-19 disaster, which as of Thursday had killed 22,780 Canadians and introduced the nation’s economic system to its knees.
I’m discouraged that the Public Well being Company of Canada didn’t handle long-standing points, a few of which have been raised repeatedly for greater than 20 years.– Auditor Normal Karen Hogan
The auditor additionally reviewed federal COVID emergency profit packages such because the Canada emergency response profit (CERB) and the Canada emergency wage subsidy (CEWS) to find out whether or not the advantages reached folks in want and whether or not the federal government imposed sufficient controls to restrict abuse.
Her most important feedback, nonetheless, have been reserved for the subject of pandemic preparedness. Hogan stated PHAC, which was established to make sure the nation was prepared for a serious outbreak, “was not as properly ready because it might have been” as a result of main contingency plans and points associated to surveillance had not been resolved or handled — although a few of them had been identified by earlier auditors.
“I’m discouraged that the Public Well being Company of Canada didn’t handle long-standing points, a few of which have been raised repeatedly for greater than 20 years,” Hogan stated.
“These points negatively affected the sharing of well being surveillance information between the Company and the provinces and territories.”
‘Way more work to do’
Whereas the company took steps to deal with a few of these issues through the pandemic, she stated, “it has rather more work to do on its information sharing agreements and data know-how infrastructure to raised assist nationwide illness surveillance sooner or later.”
The report discovered that the company’s World Public Well being Intelligence Community (GPHIN), a surveillance system that scours the web for reviews of infectious illness outbreaks in different nations, didn’t difficulty an alert to offer an early warning when COVID-19 first emerged in Wuhan, China.
The community, which is a part of PHAC, did e mail a each day report back to home subscribers, together with the provinces, with hyperlinks to associated information articles.
Officers on the public well being company defended the low-key strategy by saying that on the finish of December 2019, different worldwide sources had already shared information of the virus, making it pointless to difficulty an alert.
The auditor additionally criticized the danger assessments the company put collectively after COVID-19 started spreading across the globe — reviews which key leaders used to make selections on public well being measures reminiscent of closing the border. She stated these assessments have been oblivious to the unfolding international disaster.
Threat evaluation failed to understand the risk
“The company assessed that COVID‐19 would have a minimal impression if an outbreak have been to happen in Canada,” stated the audit.
The truth is, proper as much as the purpose when the World Well being Group declared coronavirus a worldwide pandemic — on March 11, 2020 — these threat assessments continued to fee the risk to the nation as “low.”
It wasn’t till the day after — in response to escalating case counts in Canada and rising issues amongst provincial governments — that Chief Public Well being Officer Dr. Theresa Tam ordered an improve to the danger score, the evaluate stated.
Talking previous to the discharge of the report, Dr. Howard Njoo, the deputy chief public well being officer, stated the audit gives a snapshot of a specific second within the pandemic’s trajectory and the company has labored arduous to deal with the issues.
“Actually, this pandemic is unprecedented,” stated Njoo. “We’ve not had a pandemic like this … in a minimum of over 100 years.”
A number of nations world wide are studying classes, he stated, and “I feel we’re all studying from one another …”
Drawing a clean on the border
The audit additionally came upon that PHAC and the Canada Border Providers Company didn’t know whether or not two-thirds of incoming travellers adopted quarantine orders.
“The company referred few of the travellers for in‐individual comply with‐as much as confirm compliance with orders,” stated the evaluate.
A part of that downside may very well be due to the bounds of public well being info.
“Of the people thought-about to be prone to non‐compliance, the company referred solely 40 per cent to legislation enforcement and didn’t know whether or not legislation enforcement really contacted them,” stated the audit.
The auditor stated PHAC additionally fell down on information sharing. The general public well being company did have an settlement with the provinces and territories to share information, but it surely was not absolutely applied when the pandemic hit.
The auditor common additionally stated the federal authorities did not do sufficient to make sure the “integrity” of the Canada emergency wage subsidy program (CEWS).
‘Integrity’ of CEWS program ‘in danger’
CEWS was launched in March 2020 to subsidize as much as 75 per cent of wages for staff who have been saved on their employers’ payrolls.
To get this system out the door as shortly as potential, the CRA was solely capable of conduct restricted checks earlier than approving funds, stated the audit.
“With out efficient controls for validating funds, the integrity of this system is in danger and ineligible employers may obtain the subsidy,” the audit concluded.
It additionally stated the company didn’t have up‑to‑date earnings and tax information for assessing candidates. For instance, 28 per of candidates didn’t file a GST/HST return for the 2019 calendar 12 months.
“We famous that the subsidy was paid to candidates regardless of their historical past of penalties for failure to remit and different advance indicators of potential insolvency,” stated the audit. “Certainly, the company held no legislative authority to disclaim entry to the subsidy on the idea of an employer’s historical past of non‑compliance with tax obligations.”
