by The Honourable A. Brian Peckford
December 20, 2023
Premier Blaine Higgs MLA
Leader of The New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party
Susan Holt MLA
Leader of the New Brunswick Liberal Party
David Coon MLA
Leader of The New Brunswick Green Party
Dear Leaders :
I have been made aware of the Auditor General’s Report requested by the Legislature on Mach 31, 2022 on the performance of the Government in the management of the response to the so called Covid Pandemic covering the period April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2022.
I applaud the Legislature for seeing that this audit was initiated.
Having been alerted to the report by a Canadian Press Report and having since scanned parts of Volume 11 presented just a few days ago to the Legislature, I must express my shock on the many findings that have found very inadequate responses by the various Government Departments.
I wish now briefly to focus on the audit of the lead Department , The Department of Health . The summary of findings page 51–Section 4.13 states :
“technology was lacking and data was not always used to support staffing-level decisions
while various performance targets were established, outcomes were not consistently monitored, tracked or used for decision- making
there was inconsistent record keeping and documentation pertaining to infection and prevention control decisions
there was a lack of established criteria to support decision outcomes related to exemption requests escalated to the Chief Medical Officer of Health”
Further on many statements stand out . For example,
4.26 —An overall theme of our findings was that while data was available, it was not always used, analyzed, and reported upon in order to effectively support key decisions. Antiquated technologies, paper-based records, quick turn around times, and staff shortages were some of the contributing factors to this gap.
This is accentuated by :
4.77 Our office selected a sample of 33 OCMOH ( Office of the Chief Medical Officer Of 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.”
The AG had an appendix of how well previous recommendations of his 2019 report were implemented. Sadly only 55% have been implemented:
“A detailed review found that 55% of our recommendations from 2019 audits have been implemented.”
The AG in his Volume 1 Report in September demonstrated how the Province had not learned from the 2009 H1N1 Influenza report with its recommendations.
Now, what is crucial here is not only has the public service demonstrated incompetence but in so doing caused the actions of the Government to violate our Constitution. Many decisions were made which violated the rights and freedoms of citizens since the lack of evidence based decision making means that the requirement of demonstrably justify , key to satisfying Section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms , was not met. Not only not met but there was no cost benefit analysis of any kind performed on any of the Government’s actions. Furthermore, the opening framework principles of the Charter were ignored.
Your Legislature now has the immense task to initiate action to bring accountability to what has happened ; to lead the way in Canada to re-establish our democracy and make our Parliaments the masters of our governance. As your AG said in releasing the report:
“When it comes to this type of situation, the pandemic, there’s got to be accountability beyond the norms here,” Martin said in response.”
I recommend that you three leaders announce your intent to recommend to the legislature a resolution to establish a select committee of the legislature to oversee a public Inquiry into the results of the AG Report; to establish whether the Government actions made (health orders etc) contravened the Charter of Rights and Freedoms , who is to be held responsible for these failures and to recommend what legal actions , civil/criminal are necessary. This should not be like the shams of the Rouleau and Alberta efforts where Governments set up Inquires to investigate themselves , but a truly public , transparent and independent action—supervised by the elected , those who are responsible to the people , not those who are responsible to the Government. This is what early reformers in New Brunswick were fighting for even before Confederation and accomplished in 1848!!
The inquiry will be able to consider the devastation the experimental vaccines have caused and continue to cause , the role of Big Pharma ( many of whom have been found legally guilty of bad medical actions, e.g.—Pfizer paid $2.3 billion for Fraudulent Marketing in 2009 to the US Government) and a federal government financially supported mainstream media in advancing an exaggerated medical issue . Many experts right here in Canada , medical, scientific, legal , ethics , are ready to testify before such an inquiry
Leaders , this will not go away.
Lives have been lost and injured by poor Government decision making , freedoms violated , rights abused, ignoring independent science and violating the Constitutional rights and freedoms of the citizens of our country.
You took the first courageous step , your AG was honest , now based on his findings you need to complete the job.
Canada is watching . What you do will have enormous repercussions on the future of democracy in our country.
Honorable A. Brian Peckford P.C.
The Only Living First Minister Who Is A Signatory To The Patriation Agreement of 1981 -The Foundation Document of The Constitution Act 1982 Which Includes The Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
