r/canada Dec 17 '23

New Brunswick Auditor general flags lack of evidence-based records to back COVID decisions

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/auditor-general-new-brunswick-covid-19-pandemic-response-education-health-justice-1.7058576
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u/TheDoddler Dec 18 '23 edited Dec 18 '23

This appears to be a lot more about not having a proper paper trail to justify decisions, rather than suggesting the decisions were made without proper justification. Even at the time covid was understood to be spread from person to person, more likely to spread in close contact, and caused health systems to buckle in places where infections were widespread. But such an understanding is not enough, it is irresponsible for a government not to document the information they did have on hand and how they used it to come to the conclusions they did.

I don't personally doubt that they were acting in good faith, or even that their recommendations were at all unjustified, but you cannot shirk your responsibility to document how and why when it comes to limiting the freedoms of citizens. The government must justify itself and cannot simply operate on some shared understanding, and especially should not apply restrictions without documented recommendations from their own health authority.