New Brunswick’s top doctor to face pandemic response questions from MLAs

New Brunswick’s Chief Medical Officer of Health will answer questions from a committee of MLAs about the province’s COVID-19 response on Thursday morning.

Dr. Jennifer Russell is scheduled to appear before the legislature’s standing committee on public accounts.

Russell announced her resignation from the province’s chief medical officer role last month and largely hasn’t been made available for media interviews the past several months.

On Wednesday, the University of New Brunswick announced Russell would begin a new role as the executive director of “a planned institute of population health” this fall.

When asked for more information about the institute and Russell’s new role, a UNB communications representative said, “We cannot confirm any details about the institute at this time.”

Russell’s resignation in October also included the announcement of her candidacy for the Canadian Medical Association’s president-elect position. 

Russell was appointed to the chief medical officer of health role in November 2015.

Her last day in the position is Dec. 8.

MLA COMMITTEE QUESTIONS ON COVID-19

MLAs on the public accounts standing committee questioning Russell include: Chuck Chiasson (Liberal), Ross Wetmore (PC), Andrea Anderson-Mason (PC), Mary Wilson (PC), Greg Turner (PC), Kathy Bockus (PC), Mike Dawson (PC), Ryan Cullins (PC), Jacques LeBlanc (Liberal), Benoît Bourque (Liberal), Megan Mitton (Green).

PC MLA Dorothy Shephard, who served as health minister during the pandemic (from the fall of 2020 to the summer of 2022), was removed from the public accounts committee as part of an array of committee changes announced earlier this week by the Blaine Higgs government.

In September, the committee heard from Auditor General Paul Martin about his review of the province’s COVID-19 response. Martin said the provincial government failed to update its pandemic plans based on 2009 review of the H1N1 pandemic.

At that time, Shephard was critical of the auditor general’s selection of who was interviewed for the COVID-19 audit.

“I’m really quite shocked you didn’t speak to elected officials, or at least to those that I know,” said Shephard to Martin during the Sept. 8 committee meeting.

The office of auditor general said another review on the province’s COVID-19 response would be released before the end of this year.

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