truly a must read.
glad (? lucky?) i've never fallen down the gambling hole
13.03.2026 17:06
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truly a must read.
glad (? lucky?) i've never fallen down the gambling hole
Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, seen on Sept. 8 last year, is one of many hospitals across Canada that's facing crowding issues as ER backlogs, a lack of beds and an aging population all affect patient flow.
Hospital ERs in Canada are at a breaking point and have been for some time. Is this the new normal? https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-hospitals-wait-times-9.7123684
↷ canadahealthwatch.ca/featured 🍁
So the Alberta government is playing its hand pretty hard on this supervised consumption site study they manufactured, huh.
Their research CEO was even sent as the provincial-territorial delegate to the ‘UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.’
Hope they don’t see this
drugdatadecoded.ca/centre-of-re...
This is a must read.
The study data is flawed, they appear to have deliberately overlooked established data and the people at the helm are UCP donors.
#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli
drugdatadecoded.ca/centre-of-re...
My ‘difficult’ patient made my heart sink. But what happens when doctors are part of the problem? | Ranjana Srivastava
I, too, believe the numbers declined. But unsure if I believe they are as low as reported by provincial government.
Compare to similarly sized city of Nanaimo.
So difficult to believe this province. I read this article on Lethbridge a few days back and it struck me as odd.
lethbridgenewsnow.com/2026/03/03/z...
A male American Robin perches on a snow covered fence.
Two things showed up last night #YYC - American Robins + snow. The first few robins that arrive tend to be the bright chested, black-headed males. Despite the white stuff, dried berries and crabapples should provide food until the temps turn. #birds
What books did Alberta schools *actually* pull off the shelves in response to a provincial order? It took a lot of work to find out. We still don't have a complete picture. And some schools are still pulling material.
Free speech advocates say it's ban unmatched in Canadian history. #AbLeg By me.
It's up to Albertans to decide who they trust on our health care: this government, or the growing number of voices opposing the existential threat they're posing to our treasured single-payer public health care system.
Especially when weighted against a Premier & a provincial government that has:
Total fatalities pending investigation by Alberta's medical examiner are at 3,244, with most remaining from 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Without even counting 2025, there were 3,244 deaths still pending investigation by the provincial Medical Examiner as of late January.
Some of these deaths dated back to 2020 and 2021. That's thousands of families that have waited up to six years to know how their loved ones died. 3/
Graph showing the number of deaths pending investigation from 2019 to 2024. In total, there were 3,244 deaths pending investigation as of January 2026 – without counting 2025. 2023 and 2024 contained the highest numbers at around 1,200 each.
Cause of death statistics are now missing 2024, which were available in the dashboard until recently.
The Alberta government has removed Cause of Death statistics for the entire year 2024 from its dashboard.
Fortunately, I reported on this in January, before the data were removed: drugdatadecoded.ca/up-to-89-per...
The government hadn't yet reported 2025. The latest year available is now 2023. 1/
Recreational drugs can more than double risk of stroke, study suggests
Donald Slater describes the same fear I’m hearing from many disabled Albertans, worrying that ADAP will reduce stability in the support they rely on to survive. People deemed “fit to work” by non-doctors will receive fewer benefits this summer. via @thetyee.ca
thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026...
Influenza deaths have soared to new heights in Alberta this year, according to nearly two decades worth of data, prompting concern from health experts
Latest from me👇
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
“Perimenopausal women are more than twice as likely to develop bipolar disorder and 30% more likely to develop clinical depression, while…menopause may lead to the relapse or trigger the development of eating disorders. Suicide rates are also higher among women of menopausal age.”
Landscape with Snow
Tom Thomson
1916
This government's budget is like trying to use a bandaid to stop the bleeding after years of cuts to our health care.
Instead of funding what patients actually need, they're funneling more & more money into the pockets of for-profit health care providers & their shareholders.
Psychiatrists are fighting for better mental health care, but are struggling with units operating over 100% capacity and a workforce that has not kept pace. Psychiatrists have solutions. Read about the realities of acute psychiatric care and how to fix it. add.albertadoctors.org/issues/janua...
Tomorrow, Edmonton hosts is annual Lunar New Year Festival at the Royal Alberta Museum. (Outdoor events cancelled due to weather, alas,) Did you know that Edmonton’s first Chinese immigrant settled here in 1890? Chung Kee arrived here from Calgary, via stagecoach, 15 years before Alberta existed.
Did you know?
The Provincial government has increased their property taxes on Calgarians by 57% over four years, well above inflation and population growth. They're now imposing the largest property tax increase in Calgary's history with a 21% hike, or about $350 for the typical family.
My interview yesterday with @peterloliver.bsky.social on @cjsw.bsky.social concerning data manipulation by Recovery Alberta that is contributing to supervised consumption site closures in Alberta AND Ontario.
pca.st/podcast/88de...
Nice job. The coal mine settlements are a lot more than $80m. The two on which we have details (from Australian securities filings) are: Atrum $142.8 m and Montem/Evolve at $95 m for a total of $237.8 million. One other settlement still confidential and other claims pending.
#ableg #abpoli
Inside Recovery Alberta, data were being quietly manipulated to achieve two key functions:
1. Reduce supervised consumption site visits to make them appear under-used.
2. Create data that show they don’t work as claimed. 6/
To build legitimacy, the UCP could enlist allied city councillors to “ask” the them to close sites.
This strategy succeeded in Red Deer in 2024. They tried it again in Calgary the next fall, then in Lethbridge and Calgary again the next winter. 4/
drugdatadecoded.ca/ucp-coordina...
🧵 SUPERVISED CONSUMPTION CLOSURES
It’s been obvious for years that Alberta’s UCP government wants the sites closed.
So what’s stopped them? Why didn’t they just do it after Kenney said he wouldn’t “help addicts inject poison” in 2018?
They needed plausible legitimacy. 1/
A Calgarian living with terminal cancer is calling on health officials in the province to restore access to an after-hours specialist phone line for cancer patients in southern Alberta
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Above Moraine Lake
Lawren Harris
1926
Such a beautiful piece written about Sandy’s Ukrainian Kitchen in Nanaimo. Make sure to visit.
UCP: We’re making a historic investment in finding doctors! Physicians: Say what? First we heard about it! albertapolitics.ca/2026/02/ucp-...