A Federal Court judge has dismissed a proposed $100 million class action lawsuit accusing the Public Health Agency of failing to maintain its emergency stockpile of medical supplies during the pandemic.
Blacklock's Reporter says the ruling emphasized that the courts were not the appropriate venue for a broad review of Canada’s early pandemic response.
“It constitutes a scattershot attack on all aspects of Canada’s early pandemic response,” wrote Associate Judge Trent Horne. “The plaintiffs are asking the Court to embark on an exercise akin to a public inquiry.”
Two plaintiffs who were hospitalized with COVID-19, along with representatives of a third plaintiff who died, sought certification of the lawsuit.
Their legal team argued that the Public Health Agency failed in its “duty to protect the health of Canadians,” did not follow its own pandemic plan, and neglected Canada’s supply of personal protective equipment.
Horne ruled the case too broad to proceed. “It must be plain and obvious, assuming the facts pleaded to be true, that the pleading discloses no reasonable cause of action,” he wrote.
Unlike several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, and France, Canada has not launched a public inquiry into its pandemic response. A 2023 effort to initiate such an inquiry was rejected by Liberal MPs on the Commons health committee.
“Confidence has been tested and it has been shaken,” said New Democrat MP Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway) at the time. “The only way to restore confidence in the public is to have the courage to have a full, broad, root-to-branch, transparent and searching public inquiry.”
Davies argued that only an independent inquiry would have the power to subpoena documents and compel government testimony under oath.
Audits have repeatedly criticized the government’s handling of the pandemic. A 2021 Auditor General report found the Public Health Agency was “not adequately prepared” despite prior warnings. An internal review also cited confusion, limited expertise, and a lack of clear data management within the agency.
Criticism has come from across the healthcare sector. The Canadian Nurses Association, Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, Canadian Public Health Association, and Canadian Medical Association all condemned aspects of pandemic management.
“We were caught flat-footed,” Dr. Sandy Buchman, then-president of the Medical Association, testified in 2020. “I don’t think we were adequately prepared.”
Conservative MP Ted Falk (Provencher, Man.) voiced concerns about accountability.
“Canadians will never get the answers they deserve if the ministers who perpetuated or promoted many of the failures, abuses and violations of Charter rights are the same ones tasked with reviewing their own government’s response,” he said in Parliament.
“Who got rich while Canadians suffered?”
