The Commons public accounts committee Thursday determined no Public Health Agency executive was fired for mismanaging a national stockpile of medical supplies, said Blacklock’s Reporter, highlighting that the Agency ignored warnings to prepare for an inevitable pandemic and instead threw masks away to save on warehouse leases..“We had significant lapses here,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence, representing Northumberland-Peterborough South, Ont, adding that incompetence by the Agency led to “serious issues.”.A future pandemic was referred to as “inevitable” by a 2006 Canadian Pandemic Influenza Plan, highlighting the need for adequate supplies, and auditors in a 2011 Evaluation Of The National Emergency Stockpile System also reiterated the need to maintain “pandemic preparedness supplies.”.The Agency, however, closed three of its nine stockpile warehouses to save $900,000 a year on leasing costs. As a result, nearly 9 million masks, gowns, and other supplies were discarded into landfills one year prior to COVID-19..“Were there any officials held to account?” asked Lawrence..“Was there any type of discipline? Any suspensions, any firings, any discipline of any kind for the individuals who were responsible for the oversight? And who were they?”.Former Public Health Agency vice-president, Sally Thornton, who was responsible for managing the stockpile, retired in 2020 following testimony at the Commons health committee..She said she did not know how many supplies were on hand at the outbreak of COVID and confirmed the Agency was not using electronic inventory records to monitor the stockpile..“Would you agree we failed to keep an adequate stockpile due to lack of intention and poor inventory?” asked Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux of Edmonton Riverbend..“No, the stockpile was actually doing well,” replied Thornton..“With hindsight would I have liked it to have been different?” she said. “But we were not mandated or funded to do this.”.Reid Small is a BC-based reporter for the Western Standard.,rsmall@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/reidsmall
