Pandemic response cost N.B. Justice Department an extra $40M last fiscal year

From border checkpoints to warehouses for personal protective equipment, pandemic responsibilities cost the Department of Justice and Public Safety $40 million more than it budgeted for in the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

The department "took on some central COVID responsibilities" for the provincial government, the department's deputy minister, Mike Comeau, told the legislature's standing committee on public accounts on Friday.

"Nothing of course comparable to the Department of Health and its responsibilities, but we did incur some significant expenses there," Comeau said.

The onset of the pandemic in 2020 prompted the provincial government to invoke its Emergency Measures Act.

That meant provincial peace officers were suddenly tasked with responsibilities such as setting up provincial border checkpoints to monitor who was entering the province, along with enforcing orders governing self-isolation and gathering limits.

The department spent an additional $11.5 million on those responsibilities alone, Comeau said in response to questions from Liberal Moncton Centre MLA Robert McKee.

Another $19 million was spent running a warehouse that supplied personal protective equipment to much of the province's business and non-profit sector, as well as some areas of government, he said.

An additional $6.1 million was spent on accommodations made to provincial jails to allow for COVID-19 isolation and to allow inmates to make court appearances by video, as well as providing personal protective equipment.

And $2 million was spent paying officers overtime, primarily for their work staffing border checkpoints, along with about $700,000 spent making courtroom accommodations for remote appearances and physical distancing.

"A good chunk of that was in connection with upping our game with technology, renting secondary sites," Comeau said. "A huge chunk of that was moving court services in Fredericton into the Fredericton Convention Centre, where distancing was possible."

Comeau said another $3.6 million was spent on disaster financial assistance given to residents affected by flooding in Sussex in late 2020.

In total, the department had estimated spending a total of $286,904,000 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, but ended up spending $333,122,900, according to its annual report.

Asked by McKee whether his department had what it needed to respond to the pandemic, Comeau said that while it did feel "a pinch of lack of people," overall available resources seemed adequate.

"We were told that if we were careful with our resources, that if we needed to overspend in order to get the various jobs done, that that would be acceptable," he said.