It’s been quite a year for the public sector. What has impressed you the most about the Canadian government’s response to this pandemic —and what has disappointed you?
In the first wave last March and April, the response to the pandemic itself as well as the rapid rollout of support programs was very well-coordinated across the federal and provincial governments. It was very much a ‘whole society response’ and incredible things got put together in a very short period of time.
The disappointing part for me is that in my mind, the things we did last March, April and May of 2020— when drastic measures were put in place — were meant to ensure that we would be ready for a potential second wave. That included building up testing capacity and contact tracing, as well as ensuring that we could isolate people as they got sick, if they didn’t have options at their own place of work or at home.
