You're accurate in your description that a testing of the plan hadn't happened. It was identified as being critical and that it needed to occur. The agency was in the planning stages of having a rather comprehensive test.
I guess I just want to highlight why a test is important. Some people might think it's kind of silly to have a plan and test it, but it allows you to identify whether or not roles and responsibilities are clear, whether there are gaps in resources or in expectations and where you might have obstacles that you're going to have to overcome in the event of an emergency.
As for what we saw at the beginning of the pandemic—recognizing that our audit only went to the end of June, so it hasn't extended beyond that time frame—we did see that it informed the response. One of the elements of the plan was to create a special committee that included the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada and her provincial counterparts. We saw that committee coming together, meeting and discussing.
The plan was almost live-tested, I guess. It would be up to the Public Health Agency, as it committed to do a lessons learned exercise, to inform whether or not it was effective and what the gaps and obstacles were and how to fix those going forward.