A former premier is celebrating the work of the New Brunswick auditor general who asked for, but did not receive, any evidence from the province backing its COVID-measures.Paul Martin, not to be confused with the former Liberal prime minister, released a 141-page performance audit of the province’s COVID response on December 14. On page 47, he noted, “Our office selected a sample of 33 OCMOH [Office of the Chief Officer of Medical Health] recommendations and asked the Department to provide evidence-based documentation to substantiate the decisions." "The Department was unable to provide requested documentation, acknowledging that they ‘did not create a compendium or a repository of all of the scientific articles, papers, publications and analyses it consulted during the pandemic and therefore we cannot provide a fulsome and detailed list of all of the evidence consulted and used when recommendations were being formulated.’”Martin, who did not become auditor general until 2022, advised the province to keep documents to back their reasons.“We recommend the Department of Health ensure the development and retention of adequate documentation to substantiate public health measures," he wrote.At a news conference following the report’s release, Martin said he is "always surprised" when documentation about health-related decisions is lacking."When it comes to this type of situation, the pandemic, there's got to be accountability beyond the norms here. And I would hope they would move towards that direction in the future to have those improvements set up in case this happens again,” Martin said."If a doctor is overseeing any person or meeting with a person, they keep their files, they keep their notes. There's a file, there is evidence. I don't understand why it wouldn't be there in this case." In a post to his blog Peckford42, former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford was exclamatory in his response.“Vindicated!!! WOW!” wrote Peckford. “Well, one day the truth might come out."“At least we have one honest public servant!!!...this should be headlines all over Canada !!!!!”Peckford said he wrote every premier in Canada to ask them to take their pandemic measures before the court as a reference question and New Brunswick was the only one to respond at all.“When I asked the Premiers to refer their measures to their highest court the Premier of New Brunswick was the only one who responded to say they would do their own study. Well, if this is what he meant then I should acknowledge that this Premier looks like he got something right on the COVID thing — or did the AG do this on his own?” Peckford mused.“Never mind, it was done and what I have been saying about there being no cost benefit analysis to ‘demonstrably justify’ violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been vindicated.”Peckford wondered if other provinces would “come clean” and even do as much as Martin did.“All the Provinces of Canada and the Territories need an independent look —- and do you think it is only New Brunswick that made decisions without sound scientific evidence,” Peckford wrote.“People have died, people injured, jobs lost, economic hardship endured —as a result of delayed diagnosis, delayed surgeries because of COVID decisions without scientific evidence — not to mention the deaths from the experimental vaccines where it is a scientific fact that the COVID vaccines saw more adverse events in three years that all vaccines did in the last 30 years." “Heads should begin to roll!!!!”A previous report from Martin, released in September, said the province did not update its pandemic (response) with recommendations from the provincial government's 2009 report on the H1N1 crisis.In November, the province's outgoing chief medical health officer, Dr. Jennifer Russell, admitted "political preferences'' helped inform the province’s decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Martin did not establish that."I can't prove it without the documentation. I cannot say it did or didn't. I can only say, we have no evidence,” Martin said.Martin also declined to take a critical tone of the province’s pandemic response. “Our overall findings were that government reacted quickly and appropriately in unprecedented times. Staff at all levels stepped up where needed and their dedication is commendable. We have, however, noted process improvements that will assist government in the future,” the AG wrote.“Modernized IT systems, improved planning and documentation and established performance indicators will serve the Province well should another pandemic of this nature occur.”Green Party health critic Megan Mitton said Martin didn’t dig enough and called for a public inquiry on the province’s COVID response.
