Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, May 25, 2021 -

There were deficiencies in the ways that the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) prepared for health-related crises and reacted to the current COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the Committee) presented today by Kelly Block, Chair of the Committee.

In March 2021, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released a performance audit whose purpose was to determine whether PHAC was prepared to effect a pandemic response that would protect public health and safety and would be supported by accurate and timely public health surveillance information. It also focused on whether PHAC and the Canada Border Services Agency implemented and enforced border control and mandatory quarantine measures to limit the spread in Canada of the virus that causes COVID‑19.

Among other matters, the audit found that although PHAC prepared plans and national guidance to support a response to a pandemic, it had not completed a planned testing exercise or updated all of the plans and guidance. Furthermore, long-standing shortcomings in health surveillance information impeded the effective exchange of health data between the agency and provinces and territories. Additionally, the agency did not always meet the targets it set to verify whether travellers subject to the mandatory 14‑day quarantine upon entering Canada were following the quarantine orders.

The audit also found that although the Canada Border Services Agency acted quickly to enforce emergency orders prohibiting the entry of foreign nationals to Canada, it did not review whether border services officers were consistently applying exemptions for essential workers.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee has made eight recommendations to help ensure that the Government of Canada is better prepared to protect Canadians should another pandemic arise.