Laurence Thompson

Statscan will release in December of this year life expectancy estimates by province for the 3 years ending in 2024. That may also shed more light on what has been happening to death rates in Saskatchewan. 13/13

If anyone reading this knows more about these data or has explanations of what is going on, please comment or DM me. 12/

The good news is that with these new corrected counts, the trend in deaths has not continued to rising steadily since the onset of COVID, as previously shown, but levelled off two years ago (still at a higher rate than before COVID, however. 11/

...does not have the resources to keep up with verifying death counts. This is odd when we have still been in the midst of significant COVID waves, a major flu wave last year, & a drug poisoning wave. 10/

It also is odd it takes over 2 years to make these corrections. The count for 2023 Q1, for example, over 2 years ago, was adjusted down by 7.9%. This suggests that Saskatchewan vital statistics (where the counts would originate, including for Statscan) does not place a high priority on or...9/

It's odd deaths would *all* be revised *down* so much. Deaths are counted by place of residence, not place of death. It seems unlikely 100s people/Q would, come to SK to die, then later be removed from our count to be counted elsewhere. One would think reverse would be true, esp. in winter. 8/

I queried SK Govt about the reason for the significant revisions. They replied with a description of methods used to check & verify death data - all well & good, & necessary - but did not explain the significant size of the revisions or why they were delayed up to 2 1/4 years. 7/

Revisions are not unusual but the delay in revisions, fact that all are down, & size of revisions is unusual. Last major revisions were made 2023 Q3. Most of those were *up*, rather than down, in one case up 579 deaths in one quarter. But the revision were in both directions, up & down. 6/

The changes in death counts are significant: 5 quarters are revised down by more than 200 deaths. The percentage revisions down range from 2.2% up to 8.5%. All revisions are downwards. 5/

Previous (blue) line shows deaths trending up since COVID, with seasonal fluctuations. Green line shows flat trend in deaths pre-COVID, red line upward trend post-COVID up to 2025 Q1. New revised data (yellow line) shows trend in deaths levelled out starting in 2023 Q1 (no trend line shown). 4/

The blue line shows the previous quarterly deaths as of the 2025 Q1 report. The yellow line shows the new death trend as of last week (2025 Q2), with corrections made to the counts for 9 quarters back to 2023 Q1. 3/

Here is the graph I have been updating & posting quarterly as the hardest evidence we have about what is actually happening with deaths in Saskatchewan. 2/

2 weeks ago Statistics Canada & Saskatchewan released quarterly population updates with odd results. This quarter Saskatchewan made some significant corrections that reduced previous death counts back 2+ years. 1/

'The cracks aren't cracks, they're crevasses': Former teacher peers into homelessness in Saskatoon John McGettican, who works with Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools, had his eyes opened during a recent homeless challenge.

Saskatoon community leaders spent two days and a night homeless on Saskatoon’s streets.
What one participant saw and learned:

Please follow @moriartylab.bsky.social for her charts on COVID levels by province and Canada as a whole. #Skpoli #Cdnpoli

“The 2024 study concluded that the merger could cause substantial economic harm to grain producers, more than $700 million annually due to higher shipping fees and lower prices from buyers.”
The Saskatchewan government did not oppose the merger.

I agree with this. But there is also a selfish argument for those who think that way. Your taxes are your insurance premium:
1. in case of that car crash or cancer or child with heart trouble when you are young
2. for when you are old, have less income & need the most health care.

After 5 years of COVID & flu overloading #yxe hospitals, we enter respiratory illness season with no immmunization plan to keep pts out of hospital & no plan yet in place to increase hospital services & facilitate discharge more quickly. We are already over capacity in #yxe after summer respite. 9/9

Head of Sask. pharmacy association expects COVID-19 vaccine program to start Oct. 14 | CBC News Saskatchewan residents should soon be able to roll up their sleeves to get the latest COVID-19 vaccine. Michael Fougere, CEO of the Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan, says he expects the province’s...

Instead, Sask Pharmacy Association tells us they expect the program to start Oct 14 via pharmacies: 8/

As of this post on October 5, Sask Health / SK Govt have not posted any timeline or details on fall immunization campaign and no appointments yet available: 7/

Regina hospitals, as has been true for some time, are well under capacity, as RUH in Saskatoon is the main referral centre for tertiary / quaternary care. 6/

Children’s Hospital is under capacity, but its Pediatric Unit is over capacity.
City under capacity only b/c its day surgery unit is closed weekends. 5/

As of noon today, RUH & St. Pauls in Saskatoon #yxe 82 admitted pts over capacity, inc 59 pts in the ERs admitted, no bed. As always, Medicine well over capacity (where most pts with COVID/flu/RSV would be admitted). 4/

#yxe hospitals, esp. RUH, made news this week already over capacity. SK Health Authority attributed this to, among other reasons, “the early presence of the seasonal flu [&] the need for more ER beds”. - “Hospital Under Pressure”, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Oct 4. 3/

No new SK respiratory disease (CRISP) report since 3 weeks ago. Sewage shows COVID virus levels Moderate - High across Canada. Overall SK levels Moderate & rising. High: Estevan, Meadow Lake, Regina; Moderate: Moose Jaw, N Battleford, P Albert, Saskatoon; Moderate/Low/Undetected in elsewhere. 2/

Saskatchewan/Canada’s COVID season ramping up, multiple indicators show. Saskatoon hospitals over capacity for 5th straight year. No word. yet from SK Gov on immunization campaign. Instead SK Pharmacy Association says it “expects the province's fall immunization program to roll out on Oct. 14”. 1/

Former speaker says Sask. Party is dealing with ‘all-out war’ internally The Saskatchewan NDP convention in Saskatoon hosted an unexpected guest over the weekend. Among more than 600 delegates sat former Saskatchewan Party MLA and speaker of the legislative assembly Randy ...

“former Saskatchewan Party MLA & speaker of the legislative assembly Randy Weekes…has formally shifted his allegiance to the New Democrats….’My experience was as speaker & watching how the Sask. Party has really turned to an extreme right-wing party…Weekes told CTV News”.

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”

Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943

Solar becomes main source of electricity in the EU for first time More than half of the EU’s electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from renewable energy

#Solar becomes main source of electricity in the #EU for first time. More than half of the EU’s #electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from #RenewableEnergy
www.independent.co.uk/tech/solar-p...

The ‘next big thing’ is big multi-lateral wells – but the impact is devastating to many oilfield services Editor’s note: My stomach has been tied up in knots for months as to whether I should write this story. In Saskatchewan, most of the oilfield jobs are in the oilfield services. And I’ve had more conve...

“In Saskatchewan, most of the oilfield jobs are in the oilfield services….There is a [further] major technological change that is happening that is impacting much of the industry. I finally decided people need to know what is actually going on”. 3/3
pipelineonline.ca/the-next-big...