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 COVIDresponsibilities" for the provincial government, the department's deputy minister, Mike Comeau, toldthe legislature'sstanding 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,"Comeausaid.

The onset of the pandemic in 2020 prompted the provincial governmentto invokeits 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 fromLiberal Moncton Centre MLA Robert McKee.

Another $19 million was spent running a warehousethat supplied personal protective equipment to muchof 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 toprovincial 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.

"Agood chunk of that was in connection withupping our game with technology, renting secondary sites," Comeau said. "A huge chunk of that was moving court services in Fredericton into the FrederictonConvention 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 departmenthad 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.

917 Emergency Measures Act violations

Aside from the extra costs the department incurred for the last fiscal year, Comeau also shared some of the results of the added enforcement responsibilities.

He said peace officers logged two million interactions with members of the public, which included 17,522 checks on businesses and 16,964 checks on isolating travellers.

Those checksresultedin 917 tickets being issued for violations under the province's Emergency Measures Act, he said.

Comeau said close to1,000 written warnings andcompliance letters were also issued to businesses that weren't in full compliance with the Act.

Peace officers also registered 2.95 million vehicles crossing into the province from Quebec and Nova Scotia, he said.