COVID-19
Leading cause of death in Alberta (BY A LONG SHOT) is “Unknown”. Why isn’t our next Premier talking about this?
If you were to ask 10 random Albertans what the leading cause of death was in 2021, many would respond with either COVID-19, or perhaps cancer. If they really pay attention to things like this they might say heart disease or maybe dementia (old age).
Lucky for us the Province of Alberta has made the cause of death statistics public since 2001. If you’d like to see them, click here and download “Leading Causes of Death”. If you do, you’ll see that for 15 years in a row, from 2001 to 2015 the leading cause of death for Albertans was heart disease. Dementia makes a strong push toward the end of that time frame. By 2016 dementia became the leading cause of death for the next 5 years in a row. Here’s what the list of the top 10 causes of death looked like in 2019. That was the last year ‘before’ COVID-19 appeared on the list.
| 2019 | Organic dementia | 1 | 1997 |
| 2019 | All other forms of chronic ischemic heart disease | 2 | 1886 |
| 2019 | Malignant neoplasms of trachea, bronchus and lung | 3 | 1523 |
| 2019 | Other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 4 | 1159 |
| 2019 | Acute myocardial infarction | 5 | 1061 |
| 2019 | Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, so described | 6 | 678 |
| 2019 | Accidental poisoning by and exposure to drugs and other biological substances | 7 | 677 |
| 2019 | Stroke, not specified as hemorrhage or infarction | 8 | 602 |
| 2019 | Diabetes mellitus | 9 | 569 |
| 2019 | Other ill-defined and unknown causes of mortality | 10 | 522 |
Then along came COVID-19. In 2020 dementia remained the leading cause of death for Albertans, but COVID-19 came charging out of nowhere to become the 6th most common cause of death. It’s important to note though the stats say COVID-19 “identified”. That makes it unclear whether COVID was THE cause, A cause, or A symptom. The other interesting thing to note was that in 2020, suddenly “Unknown Causes” skyrocketed up to the fourth leading cause of death, outpacing even COVID.
| 2020 | Organic dementia | 1 | 2081 |
| 2020 | All other forms of chronic ischemic heart disease | 2 | 1897 |
| 2020 | Malignant neoplasms of trachea, bronchus and lung | 3 | 1563 |
| 2020 | Other ill-defined and unknown causes of mortality | 4 | 1464 |
| 2020 | Other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 5 | 1178 |
| 2020 | COVID-19, virus identified | 6 | 1084 |
| 2020 | Acute myocardial infarction | 7 | 1067 |
| 2020 | Accidental poisoning by and exposure to drugs and other biological substances | 8 | 920 |
| 2020 | Diabetes mellitus | 9 | 743 |
| 2020 | Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, so described | 10 | 670 |
In 2021 you might expect COVID-19 would leap into top place in the list of leading causes of death for Albertans. That’s not what happened. COVID did climb from the 6th most common cause of death to the 3rd most common cause, but at the same time “Unknown causes of mortality” EXPLODED into the top position.
Looking back on the last 20 years before 2021 the number 1 cause of death ranged from a low of 1,581 people dying of heart disease in 2012, to a high of 2,018 people dying of dementia in 2020. It was only 2020 when the number of people dying from any single cause topped 2,000 for the first time.
Then in 2021 a whopping 2,135 people died of dementia. That would be enough to be the number one cause of death any other year since records have been kept. Except it wasn’t because in 2021 3,362 people died of unknown causes! Not only did “unknown causes” of death rise above that threshold of 2,100. It DEMOLISHED that number.
| 2021 | Other ill-defined and unknown causes of mortality | 1 | 3362 |
| 2021 | Organic dementia | 2 | 2135 |
| 2021 | COVID-19, virus identified | 3 | 1950 |
| 2021 | All other forms of chronic ischemic heart disease | 4 | 1939 |
| 2021 | Malignant neoplasms of trachea, bronchus and lung | 5 | 1552 |
| 2021 | Acute myocardial infarction | 6 | 1075 |
| 2021 | Other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 7 | 1028 |
| 2021 | Diabetes mellitus | 8 | 728 |
| 2021 | Stroke, not specified as hemorrhage or infarction | 9 | 612 |
| 2021 | Accidental poisoning by and exposure to drugs and other biological substances | 10 | 604 |
It’s worth repeating, in 2021 “Unknown Causes” were responsible for the deaths of 3,362 Albertans! That’s over 50% more deaths than any of the leading causes since records have been made public!
Considering the Government of Alberta closed businesses, schools, and recreation centres for a virus responsible for 1,950 deaths in 2021 it is astounding that our media isn’t screaming and our government is not aggressively trying to figure out what caused the deaths of 3,362 Albertans!
It’s not just Alberta and Canada seeing this alarming trend. In England officials are reporting an increase in excess deaths of over 15% compared to the 5 year average. ” Harley Street GP Charles Levinson told The Spectator that while “every slight bump or uptick in the Covid numbers demands endless column inches”, there had been “total silence from so many” on the “damning” overall death statistics. “
British health researcher John Campbell reveals the situation in England.
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It used to be the media’s job to take the data and ask questions. Somehow they’ve failed to recognize the significance of THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH sweeping much of the planet.
If you were unable to come up with your own questions when you watched John Campbell’s video, you might very much appreciate this commentary from Jimmy Dore.
Tamara Lich arrives for her trial at the courthouse in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Lich and fellow Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber are charged with mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
The trial of “Freedom Convoy” organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber has begun a scheduled break that will continue until after Thanksgiving.
The court finished hearing the testimony of Serge Arpin, the chief of staff to Ottawa’s former mayor, on Friday.
He spoke about how the city responded to the protest that overwhelmed the downtown core for three weeks in early 2022.
Arpin also testified about his interactions with convoy organizers while working out a deal with former mayor Jim Watson to move big-rig trucks out of residential neighbourhoods.
The evidence was originally due to be wrapping up by this point in the trial, which had been scheduled to last 16 days, but Arpin is just the fourth witness to finish his testimony.
The trial was expected to hear from 22 witnesses, leaving the court to ponder how much more time will be needed to reach the finish line.
Justice Heather Perkins-McVey, who is overseeing the trial, has identified several dates in October and November.
Lawrence Greenspon, the lawyer representing Lich, said he does not want to set new court dates until the Crown has established a new, more accurate time estimate for its case.
As of Friday, the trial is expected to resume Oct. 11.
Lich and Barber are charged with mischief and counselling others commit offences such as mischief and intimidation for their role in organizing and prolonging the demonstration.
The defence questioned Arpin Friday about how city council and staff attempted to put an end the protest. As the mayor’s chief of staff, Arpin told the court he sat in on every council meeting.
He was grilled about a bylaw change on Feb. 9 last year that banned idling in a vehicle unless the temperature fell at or below -15 C. The bylaw originally allowed idling if the temperature was below 5 C.
“City council … was attempting to freeze out the truckers and their families,” Greenspon told the court.
Arpin said he believed the intention was to bring the demonstration to an end.
Arpin was also involved in the deal between Watson, Lich and other organizers to move trucks out of residential neighbourhoods and onto Wellington Street, in front of Parliament Hill.
He texted back and forth with the convoy organizers’ lawyer Keith Wilson on Feb. 14 and 15 in an exchange that was filed as evidence in the trial.
The texts suggest city staff did not give protest organizers or their lawyers a heads-up about plans to file a court injunction against demonstrators who violated city bylaws.
“Just so you know, it is highly irregular for the city’s lawyers to have done this without providing us lawyers here with notice,” Wilson wrote to Arpin on Feb. 15.
“This could change everything.”
Arpin told Wilson he was under the impression they knew about the court filing, but said in court that he never informed them himself until after the injunction was granted by a judge.
Lawyers representing the convoy organizers were not given an opportunity to oppose the application in court at the time.
The deal between Lich and the mayor fell apart later that day when police would no longer allow trucks to move closer to Parliament.
Arpin confirmed the police service underwent a change in command that day as a result of the police chief’s resignation.
He apologized to Wilson at the time, the text messages show.
“Our goal has always been de-escalation and I know you share this goal,” he texted to Wilson on the 16th.
The Crown hopes to pick up its case in October with eight local witnesses from Ottawa who lived or worked downtown during the Freedom Convoy protest.
Lich and Barber have already admitted that there was mischief taking place in the protest zone.
Greenspon has argued that the testimony of those witnesses would be akin to victim impact statements, and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to be heard during the trial.
P
Tamara Lich arrives for her trial at the courthouse in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Lich and fellow Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber are charged with mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Ottawa
The chief of staff for former Ottawa mayor Jim Watson is expected to continue his testimony in the trial of two “Freedom Convoy” protest organizers today before the court takes a two-week break.
Serge Arpin was involved in the mayor’s deal with convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber to move trucks off of residential streets last year.
Arpin and the mayor hoped the deal would result in some 400 trucks moving out of residential neighbourhoods and onto the street along Parliament Hill as the protest went on for weeks.
Lich and Barber are on trial for alleged mischief and counselling others to commit mischief, intimidation and other offences during the protest.
Friday was initially expected to be the final day for the Crown to present its case against them, but legal arguments and other delays have put the court well behind schedule, and Arpin is only the fourth of 22 Crown witnesses expected to testify.
The court is looking for more dates to finish the Crown’s case and leave time for more legal arguments at the end of the trial.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2023.
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