Canada distributed a blacklist of Freedom Convoy sympathizers https://t.co/suzGNI1Y3P
— Komrade Deplorable (@astroloupicus) March 27, 2023
Canada
Yes, France should learn the basic concepts of democracy. Canada should ponder this advice as well. Hypocrites.
In conclusion, our analysis overall leads us to suggest that the COVID-19 mortality statistics collected and presented by the Government of Canada (Public Health Agency of Canada) are unreliable at best and possibly meaningless.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/proof-canada-covid-19-mortality-statistics-incorrect/5795534
By Prof Denis Rancourt, Dr. Marine Baudin, and Dr. Jérémie Mercier
Global Research, March 22, 2023
Region: Canada
Theme: Science and Medicine
***
Abstract
We make a quantitative comparison between the COVID-19 mortality statistics of the Government of Canada (Public Health Agency of Canada; managed by the Chief Public Health Officer) and calculated total excess all-cause mortality (ACM) (deaths from all causes) for the Covid period. The claimed “COVID-19 deaths” mortality is almost double the total excess ACM for the same period, which we find to be irreconcilable with reality. We describe how these numbers have been uncritically used in public Government communications, by leading media, and in a recent scientific article co-authored by Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, which claims that “without the use of restrictive measures and without high levels of vaccination, Canada could have experienced […] almost a million deaths.” We conclude that the COVID-19 mortality statistics are unreliable at best, and possibly meaningless.
Introduction
In Canada and in the world, there were virtually no reported deaths assigned to COVID-19 prior to the 11 March 2020 World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of a pandemic. Likewise, no anomaly in all-cause mortality by time (day, week, month) can be detected prior to the said declaration.1
The Government of Canada records “COVID-19 deaths” and reports the cumulative value on a weekly basis, at its Public Health Agency of Canada “COVID-19 epidemiology update” dashboard.2
Government of Canada officers and employees use the same cumulative “COVID-19 deaths” data in their peer-reviewed scientific articles (see below).
This brief report is about the irreconcilable discrepancy between the Government of Canada’s numbers of “COVID-19 deaths” and rigorous evaluations of excess total all-cause mortality (ACM) for the same time periods.
What the Canadian Government and legacy media say
Table 1 presents statements made by the Government of Canada and by leading media, reporting cumulative “COVID-19 deaths”. The list is incomplete.
Table 1. COVID-19 death count statements
Clearly, these numbers are an integral part of the Government of Canada’s communication campaign during the Covid period.
In addition, countless audio and video recorded interviews have media interviewers and commentators advancing these and comparable large cumulative numbers of “COVID-19 deaths”, typically to emphasize the seriousness of the declared pandemic, and always implying that infection with the presumed SARS-CoV-2 virus was the dominant or only medical factor causing the deaths.
The detailed time evolution of the cumulative number of “COVID-19 deaths” is available at the Government of Canada (Public Health Agency of Canada) dashboard and its csv-file download,17 and is represented in the following graph (Figure 1), in which the time axis starts on 1 February 2020.
Figure 1. Time evolution of the cumulative number of “COVID-19 deaths” for Canada. The vertical line marks the week of 11 March 2020, when a pandemic was declared by the WHO. Data is from the Government of Canada (accessed on 3 October 2022).18
The same data as in Figure 1, viewed in terms of weekly new “COVID-19 deaths”, for the same time period (February 2020 to present), is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Time evolution of the weekly new number of “COVID-19 deaths” for Canada. The vertical line marks the week of 11 March 2020, when a pandemic was declared by the WHO. Data is from the Government of Canada (accessed on 3 October 2022).19
There is a consensus in the Government of Canada and the major media outlets that these numbers of “COVID-19 deaths”, reviewed above, represent true and reliable mortality caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, since COVID-19 is uniquely ascribed to this virus.
We were not able to find any Government of Canada sources or publications that suggested that the presumed virus could have played an insignificant or minor role in causing the deaths in some of the deaths attributed to or associated with “confirmed” COVID-19; nor were we able to find any Government (or investigative media) effort to estimate the fraction of any such “false positive” attributions of cause of death.
What the all-cause mortality says
All-cause mortality by time is the most reliable data for detecting and epidemiologically characterizing events causing death, and for gauging the population-level impact of any surge or collapse in deaths from any cause. Such data is not susceptible to reporting bias or to any bias in attributing causes of death. More and more researchers are recognizing that it is essential to examine ACM by time, and excess deaths from all causes compared with projections from historic trends, to help make sense of the events surrounding COVID-19: See Rancourt et al. (2022)20 and references therein.
Before we describe the quantification method, it is instructive to examine the ACM by time in Canada over the last three decades. Figure 3 shows ACM by month for Canada, from January 1991 through December 2020. Contrary to usual practice, we use the full y-scale, showing the zero, so that one may evaluate the relative importance of the seasonal variations and of any other changes compared to numbers of all the deaths in the country. This provides a reference to ascertain the degree to which the declared pandemic caused a notable excess in mortality after 11 March 2020.
Figure 3. All-cause mortality (ACM) by month for Canada, from January 1991 to December 2020, inclusive. The data is from StatCan.21 There are characteristic dips in February, due to the known artifact arising from February typically having only 28 days. The March-May 2020 peak that occurs immediately following the pandemic announcement of 11 March 2020 is historically anomalous, and we have discussed it previously.22
Next, we apply similar quantitative methods that we applied recently for the USA23 to the case of Canada, to quantify excess total ACM for the Covid period, which started on 11 March 2020. By “excess” we mean in addition to the expected mortality for the Covid period, based on the historic trend prior to 11 March 2020. As such, the expected mortality for the Covid period is the mortality that one would predict if the Covid period were just like recent prior periods, in terms of the factors that determine mortality.
We use the StatCan data of ACM by week,24 which starts at the week ending Saturday 9 January 2010, and ends at the week ending Saturday 14 May 2022. Although StatCan refers to this data as “provisional weekly death counts”, we have observed that successive updates for this product (their Table 13-10-0768-01) do not change the previously released data to a degree that could significantly change our calculations or conclusions. The last values in the dataset for May do not appear to be anomalous.
Given the end date of the data and given the start date of 11 March 2020 of the declared pandemic, the Covid period used in our calculation (the “defined Covid period”) is the 114-week period between the week ending Saturday 14 March 2020 and the week ending Saturday 14 May 2022, inclusive. We sum ACM over this 114-week period. We define non-overlapping 114-week periods of summation of ACM, which immediately precede the defined Covid period. Four such consecutive periods prior to the defined Covid period can be accommodated by the data.
We plot the resulting sum of ACM values versus time, along with the ACM by week (on a different y-axis), in Figure 4.
Figure 4. All-cause mortality (ACM) by week, 2010-2022, left y-axis (light blue continuous curve) for Canada; and ACM sums over the five 114-week non-overlapping consecutive periods described in the text, right y-axis (dark blue dots, joined by line segments). The ACM sums are positioned in time on the x-axis at the first week of the respective summation period. The last 114-week period is our operational Covid period (the defined Covid period). The orange straight dashed line is the least-squares best fit to the four ACM sums prior to the defined Covid period. The sharp spike occurring in the summer of 2021 corresponds to the heat wave that occurred in British Columbia (and the north-western USA).
We make a least-squares fit of a straight line to the four ACM sums of the 114-week periods prior to the defined Covid period (shown in Figure 4). Taking “x” to be the week number, where x=1 is the first week in the StatCan data, the resulting fitted line has slope = 264.5 ACM-sum-on-114-weeks per week, intercept = 516,400 deaths in 114-week period, and Pearson correlation coefficient r = +0.9989.
Therefore, the expected 114-week ACM sum for the defined Covid period, based on the least-squares fitted straight line, is (657.1 ± 1.3) x 103 deaths, where the uncertainty is estimated as the mean of the four absolute values of the deviations of the observed values from the fitted line; whereas the measured ACM sum for the 114-week defined Covid period is 679,645 deaths.
This means that the excess mortality for the 114-week defined Covid period ending on the week ending on Saturday 14 May 2022, is:
679,645 − (657.1 ± 1.3) x 103 = (22.5 ± 1.3) x 103 deaths, which is seen in Figure 4.
Covid-assigned deaths versus all-cause mortality
The thus obtained excess ACM for the 114-week defined Covid period ending on 14 May 2022 can be compared to the cumulative “COVID-19 deaths” on 14 May 2022.
The latter official value for 14 May 2022, from the Government of Canada (Public Health Agency of Canada), is: 40,684 “COVID-19 deaths”.25
Therefore, we have:
This means that there were 18,200 more “COVID-19 deaths” than the 22,500 excess all-cause deaths (up to 14 May 2022).
The “COVID-19 deaths” mortality, in magnitude, is 181% of the calculated total excess ACM (up to 14 May 2022).
If the same ratio were applied to the USA, there would have been 1.81 x 1.27M26 = 2.30M “COVID-19 deaths” in the USA, more than double the official USA number (998,587 “COVID-19 Deaths” on 14 May 2022, CDC).27
It is inconceivable that a virus killed this many more people than the total excess ACM, because this would imply that in the absence of the presumed virus there would be a large deficit of ACM. Alternatively, one would need to believe that Covid measures (masking, social distancing, isolation, shutting down economic sectors, etc.) cause a net reduction of deaths from all other causes; such as not causing any deaths while more than eliminating “influenza and pneumonia”, which in Canada have reported deaths in the range 6.2 to 8.6 K/year for 2016 through 2019.28
The presumed SARS-CoV-2 virus would have killed approximately twice as many people as the calculated excess ACM. This means that, in addition to presumably being the cause for all the excess ACM (which is implausible), the presumed SARS-CoV-2 virus would have also had to rush in and kill 18,200 people, in the same time period and before they could die of other causes, who most certainly would have died without the Covid circumstances. What is the meaning of a presumed virulent virus that kills people who would have died, when they would have died? Alternatively, for example, the Covid measures would have saved 18,200 people from “influenza and pneumonia”, say, while the presumed SARS-CoV-2 virus killed them.
More realistically, if approximately half of the excess deaths were due to the aggressive measures (including: harmful medical treatment, neglect of vulnerable individuals, social and physical isolation, and loss of regular occupation and care protocols), then at most 10,000 or so deaths could have been caused by the presumed SARS-CoV-2 virus, in this period, and the reported number of “COVID-19 deaths” is inflated by a factor of approximately 4, if the cause-of-death determinations can be taken to be meaningful.
Discussion: What does the Government of Canada say?
Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Chrystia Freeland29 has stated that if Canada had the same “COVID-19 deaths” rate per capita as the USA, then there would have been 70,000 more COVID-19 deaths in Canada.30 Freeland referred to a study by Naylor and other academics as her source. Razak et al. (including Naylor) make their analysis up to or near 12 February 2022 when the reported cumulative “COVID-19 deaths” for Canada were at 35,268. For this date, they report “COVID-19 deaths” rates per capita (per million) of 919 for Canada and 2,730 for the USA (their Figure 1C).31 The USA rate would produce 105,000 deaths in Canada, which is 70,000 more than 35,000.
This statement by Freeland has a “COVID-19 deaths” rate for the USA, which is 3.0 times larger than for Canada, but Freeland does not mention two important factors:
(1) the USA has an excess-ACM death rate (per capita) that is 6.5 times larger than for Canada [(1.27M/22.5K)(38M/330M) = 6.5], and
(2) the Covid-measures stringency index (Oxford Stringency Index) is statistically indistinguishable for the USA and Canada [Figure 2 in Razak et al.32].
Freeland’s attention should have been turned instead to a metric that takes into account the different health statuses of the vulnerable populations in the two countries.33 Freeland could have asked herself: “Why is the ratio of ‘COVID-19 deaths’ to excess ACM deaths [(40.7K/22.5K)/(0.999M/1.27M)] some 2.3 times larger in Canada than in the USA?” This contextualized comparison would mean a relative (compared to the USA) catastrophic failure of the Covid measures intended to prevent spread of the disease in Canada, in which the presumed infection appears to have disproportionately devastated those close to death in Canada. Freeland misled herself in her use of the USA regarding comparative efficacy of Covid measures in Canada.
Discussion: What do the Government scientists say?
Ogden et al. (with Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam), publishing in the peer-reviewed journal Canada Communicable Disease Report (CCDR) in July/August 2022 wrote:34
“Together, these observations show that without the use of restrictive measures and without high levels of vaccination, Canada could have experienced substantially higher numbers of infections and hospitalizations and almost a million deaths.”
One million added “COVID-19 deaths” in Canada corresponds to adding approximately 150% of the baseline total (not excess) ACM deaths for the Covid period. This would increase the Covid-period total (not excess) ACM from approximately 680,000 deaths (Figure 4) to approximately 1,680,000 deaths. One can gauge what that would look like on Figures 3 and 4.
To make it more visual and concrete, we simulate the ACM by week for Canada with the added said “almost a million deaths” in Figure 5. Here, for the sake of illustration and simplicity, we add the one million deaths to the defined Covid period uniformly to each of the 114 weeks in the period (1M/114 = 8,772 deaths added to each week in the defined Covid period; keeping in mind that the Ogden et al. article uses data up to 20 April 2022, which is close to our defined Covid period end date).
Figure 5. Simulated all-cause mortality (ACM) by week, 2010-2022, for Canada, using the proposal of Ogden et al. (red line), as explained in the text. The original data for the Covid period is shown by the dashed grey line.
Figure 5 suggests that the proposal made by Ogden et al. is not compatible with any reasonable view.
The theoretical notion that one million deaths were averted by the Covid measures in Canada is incredible on its face, but also contrary to reality. It would correspond to 210 million deaths globally [(1M/38M) x 8B]; and to 8.7 million deaths in the USA [(1M/38M) x 330M].
This conclusion by Ogden et al. (including Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam) is not connected to reality because, in addition to relying on reported “COVID-19 deaths” numbers, it is a product of their theoretical modelling exercise. All such models applied to nations have been shown to often be grossly unreliable. Arguably the most renowned epidemiologist (cited >450K times),35 Stanford University’s Professor of Medicine John Ioannidis and co-authors had this to say about the models:36
“Epidemic forecasting has a dubious track-record, and its failures became more prominent with COVID-19. Poor data input, wrong modeling assumptions, high sensitivity of estimates, lack of incorporation of epidemiological features, poor past evidence on effects of available interventions, lack of transparency, errors, lack of determinacy, consideration of only one or a few dimensions of the problem at hand, lack of expertise in crucial disciplines, groupthink and bandwagon effects, and selective reporting are some of the causes of these failures. Nevertheless, epidemic forecasting is unlikely to be abandoned.”
At this point, readers have a choice of preferring to side more with one of two end-point views. Either:
(a) the Government of Canada saved one million lives, and thereby brought down mortality coincidentally to virtually the same level as in the pre-Covid periods (Figures 3 and 4); within 22,500 deaths, which is approximately +3% of expected mortality in the absence of Covid circumstances; or
(b) there was no such contagious and virulent pathogen present, and, if anything, the Covid measures may have caused net harm.
In making this evaluation, readers should keep in mind that the article by Ogden et al. (including Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam) is written by the architects of the Covid measures in Canada, and of the COVID-19 testing and vaccination campaigns. It is published by the Government. And it constructs a theoretical justification for unprecedented harsh nation-wide Government measures. It cannot be viewed as unbiased.
Conclusion
We determined the expected defined Covid period mortality (nominally from 11 March 2020 to 14 May 2022), in the absence of the Covid period circumstances to be: (657.1 ± 1.3) x 103 deaths.
The actual defined Covid period mortality was 679,645 deaths.
Therefore, the defined Covid period excess mortality is (22.5 ± 1.3) x 103 deaths, which is significantly smaller than the Government’s reported “COVID-19 deaths” number of 40,684 for the same period.
These numbers (22.5K vs 40.7K) cannot be reconciled by any reasonable explanation, which we have explored.
The recent suggestion by Ogden et al., derived from using the Government-reported “COVID-19 deaths” mortality, that “without the use of restrictive measures and without high levels of vaccination, Canada could have experienced […] almost a million deaths.”, appears to be palpably disconnected from reality (Figure 5).
In conclusion, our analysis overall leads us to suggest that the COVID-19 mortality statistics collected and presented by the Government of Canada (Public Health Agency of Canada) are unreliable at best, and possibly meaningless.
*
This report was published by Correlation Research in the Public Interest.
Notes
1 Rancourt, D.G. (2020) “All-cause mortality during COVID-19: No plague and a likely signature of mass homicide by government response”, ResearchGate, 2 June 2020. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.24350.77125 | archived at: https://archive.ph/PXhsg
2 Government of Canada (2022) “COVID-19 epidemiology update”. Updated: 2022-10-03. https://health- infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/ (accessed on 3 October 2022).
3 Ogden NH, Turgeon P, Fazil A, Clark J, Gabriele-Rivet V, Tam T, Ng V. “Counterfactuals of effects of vaccination and public health measures on COVID-19 cases in Canada: What could have happened?” Canada Communicable Disease Report (CCDR) 2022;48(7/8):292–302. https://doi.org/10.14745/ccdr.v48i78a01
4 https://health-infobase.canada.ca/src/data/covidLive/Epidemiological-summary-of-COVID-19-cases-in- Canada-Canada.ca.pdf (accessed on 27 September 2022).
5 Ibid. (accessed after 4 April 2022)
6 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/canada-covid-cases.html | Archived: https://archive.ph/puy6S (accessed on 27 September 2022).
7 https://globalnews.ca/news/6649164/canada-coronavirus-cases/ (accessed on 27 September 2022).
8 https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/covid-19-hospitalizations-down-by-42-in-quebec-1.6053545 (accessed on 27 September 2022).
9 https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2022/08/25/did-a-conservative-leadership-hopeful-compare- covid-19-vaccines-to-nazi-atrocities-leslyn-lewis-rejects-cowardly-accusation.html | Archived: https://archive.ph/iTEjc (accessed on 27 September 2022).
10 https://globalnews.ca/news/9084719/covid-deaths-hit-one-million-who/ (accessed on 27 September 2022).
11 https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/tracking-every-case-of-covid-19-in-canada-1.4852102 (accessed on 28 September 2022).
12 https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/canada/ (accessed on 28 September 2022).
13 https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/kaplan-myrth-ontario-election-covid-19-isnt-over-vote-for-the-party- that-will-act-on-this-reality (accessed on 28 September 2022).
14 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canada-40000-covid-19-deaths/ | Archived: https://archive.ph/v3w1r (accessed on 28 September 2022).
15 https://globalnews.ca/news/8834765/covid-canada-40k-deaths-6th-wave/ (accessed on 29 September 2022).
16 https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-million-covid-deaths-1.6150574 (accessed on 28 September 2022).
17 See Footnote 2
18 See Footnote 2
19 See Footnote 2
20 Rancourt, D.G., Baudin, M., Mercier, J. “COVID-Period Mass Vaccination Campaign and Public Health Disaster in the USA – From age/state-resolved all-cause mortality by time, age-resolved vaccine delivery by time, and socio-geo-economic data”, Research Gate, 2 August 2022, DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.12688.28164, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362427136_COVID- Period_Mass_Vaccination_Campaign_and_Public_Health_Disaster_in_the_USA_From_agestate- resolved_all-cause_mortality_by_time_age-resolved_vaccine_delivery_by_time_and_socio-geo- economic_data | archived here: https://archive.ph/lFNwK
21 StatCan (2022) “Deaths, by month”. Release date: 2022-01-24. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310070801 (accessed on 6 June 2022).
22 Rancourt, D.G., Baudin, M. and Mercier, J. (2021) “Analysis of all-cause mortality by week in Canada 2010-2021, by province, age and sex: There was no COVID-19 pandemic and there is strong evidence of response-caused deaths in the most elderly and in young males”. ResearchGate, 6 August 2021, https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.14929.45921 | archived here: https://archive.ph/CYA20
23 Rancourt et al. (2022): Footnote 20.
24 StatCan (2022) “Table 13-10-0768-01 Provisional weekly death counts, by age group and sex”. Release date: 2022-09-08. https://doi.org/10.25318/1310076801-eng | also: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310076801 (accessed on 12 September 2022)
25 See Footnote 2
26 Rancourt et al. (2022): Footnote 20.
27 “COVID Data Tracker – Trends in Number of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in the US Reported to CDC, by State/Territory”, CDC, https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_totaldeaths_select_00 (accessed on 2 October 2022).
28 “Leading causes of death, total population, by age group”, Table: 13-10-0394-01 (formerly CANSIM 102-0561), Release date: 2022-01-24, Statistics Canada, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310039401 (accessed on 2 October 2022).
29 https://deputypm.canada.ca/en | archived: https://archive.ph/uyAHz (accessed on 1 October 2022).
30 Video: “All-cause deaths continue to skyrocket in Canada”, Rebel News, 26 September 2022. https://rumble.com/v1lmo2p-all-cause-deaths-continue-to-skyrocket-in-canada.html (at 4:12).
31 Fahad Razak, Saeha Shin, C. David Naylor, Arthur S. Slutsky. “Canada’s response to the initial 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparison with peer countries” CMAJ Jun 2022, 194 (25) E870-E877; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.220316 . See also the 27 June 2022 Globe&Mail opinion piece by Razak, Slutsky and Naylor: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-we-need-new-strategies-to- tackle-covid-this-fall/ | archived: https://archive.ph/moeYs .
32 Ibid.
33 Rancourt et al. (2022): Footnote 20.
34 Ogden et al. (2022): Footnote 3.
35 Google Scholar authenticated profile of John P.A. Ioannidis: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JiiMY_wAAAAJ&hl (accessed on 1 October 2022).
36 Ioannidis JPA, Cripps S, Tanner MA. “Forecasting for COVID-19 has failed”. Int J Forecast. 2022 Apr- Jun;38(2):423-438. doi: 10.1016/j.ijforecast.2020.08.004. Epub 2020 Aug 25. PMID: 32863495; PMCID: PMC7447267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijforecast.2020.08.004
Featured image is from Children’s Health Defense
The original source of this article is Global Research
Copyright © Prof Denis Rancourt, Dr. Marine Baudin, and Dr. Jérémie Mercier, Global Research, 2023
From CBC article: “For the first 10 months of 2022, there were 848 more deaths than expected in Nova Scotia. The province said 546 of those were due to COVID-19. That means almost 36 per cent of the deaths are attributable to other causes.”
“…the vast majority of excess deaths in 2021 and 2022 were most likely due to COVID-19 vaccines.“
Global Research, March 24, 2023
COVID Intel 23 March 2023
A March 7, 2023 CBC article headline reads: “Nova Scotia tight-lipped about spike in deaths – Unexpectedly high numbers of people are dying in an untimely fashion,’ expert says” (click here)
All highly COVID-19 vaccinated countries and jurisdictions are seeing record excess deaths on the order of 1 per 1000 population in 2022.
- USA – 270,000 in 2022 (source: Ethical Skeptic, BMC Skidmore, USMortality.com)
- Germany – 103,000 in 2022 (source: German govt, OECD, EuroMOMO click here)
- UK – 54,000 in 2022 (source: BBC click here)
- Japan – 91,000 in 2022 (source: click here)
- Australia – 42,000 in 2022 (source: click here)
- Alberta – 4000 in 2022 (source: click here)
Now we can add the small Canadian province of Nova Scotia to the list.
From CBC article: “For the first 10 months of 2022, there were 848 more deaths than expected in Nova Scotia. The province said 546 of those were due to COVID-19. That means almost 36 per cent of the deaths are attributable to other causes.”
CBC News asked the Nova Scotia government what is causing the excess mortality in this province, but did not receive a specific answer. A spokeswoman noted excess mortality “represents all deaths — cancer, suicide, heart disease, natural causes, etc. — not just COVID-19.”
But it’s unclear what those other causes are. The province declined interview requests with Health Department officials and the chief medical examiner.
The population of Nova Scotia is 971, 395.
The annualized 2022 excess deaths is 848/(10/12) = 1018.
1018 deaths in 2022 for a population of 971, 395, is around 1 death per 1000 population.
Excess deaths in Canada
According to Statistics Canada, there were 53,741 excess deaths in Canada from March 2020 until end of August 2022 (click here)
Then we subtract “COVID-19 deaths” of 14,642 in 2020 (click here)
We are left with 39,099 deaths since the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, until end of August 2022. Extrapolate that to end of 2022 and it’s about 47,000 deaths with more of those deaths occurring in 2022.
I believe when the numbers are in, we will see somewhere between 30,000 to 35,000 excess deaths in Canada in 2022, or about 1 in 1000 population.
My take
Over 80% of COVID-19 deaths in 2020 were in Long Term Care home settings where vulnerable elderly were euthanized with drugs like Midazolam + Morphine or abandoned and left to die. (click here) Most deaths were “with COVID” not “from COVID”.
Once COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out in late December 2020, all deaths in the first 14 days post-vaccination were counted as unvaccinated COVID-19 deaths – this was done to fraudulently create a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” which didn’t exist.
This “pandemic of the unvaccinated” fraud was pushed by US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and their Public Health henchmen Anthony Fauci and Teresa Tam. In Alberta, it was pushed by Deena Hinshaw.
I believe there were very few true COVID-19 deaths in 2021 and 2022. Many of the deaths were in the COVID-19 vaccinated whose immune systems were severely damaged by the jabs, or they were post-vaccine deaths in the first 14 days.
Therefore the vast majority of excess deaths in 2021 and 2022 were most likely due to COVID-19 vaccines.
These post COVID-19 vaccine deaths are accelerating. 2022 was worse than 2021 and we are seeing deaths on the order of 1 per 1000 population in 2022.
2023 is shaping up to be even worse than 2022.
The idiocy and hypocrisy are insufferable.
Exploring one of Canada’s best-documented cases of UFO contact.
https://www.thepulse.one/p/tucker-carlsons-claim-of-troops-dying
March 23, 2023
During an appearance on the “Full Send” podcast, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson recalled a recent discussion with a Stanford professor, who, 11 years ago, was allegedly tasked by the Defense Department to investigate numerous cases of troops dying due to UFO-inflicted brain injuries.
The host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” shared that his source, who claimed to have expertise in traumatic brain injury, studied the brains of more than 100 troops who died following such encounters. The professor also told Carlson that there are dozens of open court cases that support his claims.
According to Carlson,
“[In] a number of cases, these things have landed on military bases. … Servicemen have approached them and they get traumatic brain injury, or they’re killed, […] I’m like, why isn’t this on the front page of the New York Times? I don’t know.”
Susan Gough, a Defense Department spokesperson, told the Military Times that this story is false.
To the everyday person, this story may seem crazy, but to veteran scholars in the field, like historian Richard Dolan, long-time UFO researcher Timothy Good, scientists like Jacque Valleé and many more, it wouldn’t be surprising.
It wouldn’t be surprising because what Carlson is sharing has been shared by many researchers, experiencers and military personnel over the past few decades. There are multiple incidents and claims that those who have come within the vicinity of some of these unknown objects have suffered various health consequences.
The Pulse is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
A Few Examples
Take a look at the picture below, for example. It’s a picture of Stefan Michalak, a man involved in a UFO incident in Manitoba, Canada. In 1967, Michalak was treated at a hospital for burns to his chest and stomach that later turned into raised sores on a grid-like pattern.
According to Stefan’s son, Stan Michalak, who co-authored a book detailing his father’s encounter titled When They Appeared:
“I recalled seeing him in bed. He didn’t look good at all. He looked pale, haggard. . . .When I walked into the bedroom there was a huge stink in the room, like a real horrible aroma of sulphur and burnt motor. It was all around and it was coming out of his pores. It was bad.”
The incident is one of Canada’s most well-known cases, it became known as the Falcon Lake UFO incident. In 2018 The Royal Canadian Mint even commemorated the event with a new coin.
In the image below, a grid of dots can be seen on Michalak’s burned shirt.
On May 20, 1967, he says he saw two cigar-shaped objects with a reddish glow hovering about 45 meters away. One descended, according to Stefan’s account, landing on a flat section of rock. This object, when it landed took on more of a disc shape. The other remained in the air for a few minutes before flying off.
Stefan sat back and sketched it over the next half hour. Then he decided to approach it, later recalling the warm air and smell of sulphur as he got closer, as well as a whirring sound of motors and a hissing of air.
Stefan also said he saw the door open on the side with bright lights inside, and that he heard voices muffled by the sounds from the craft during the encounter. Michalak claimed that the speakers sounded human, with two discernible voices, one higher than the other. He initially attempted to communicate in English and offered mechanical support, assuming the pilots were experiencing mechanical difficulties. His exclamation silenced the talking he had heard. There was no response.
He described the ship as being made of smooth metal and equipped with panels of several different coloured flashing lights.
Eventually, he says, as he walked close enough to the craft to touch it, it began to turn counter-clockwise, and then, all of a sudden, he was struck in the chest by a blast of air or gas that pushed him backward and set his shirt and cap ablaze.
Disoriented and nauseous he stumbled through the forest and vomited. He eventually made his way back to his motel room in Falcon Lake and then caught a bus back to Winnipeg.
After Stefan made it back to civilization, he was treated at a hospital for burns to his chest and stomach that later turned into raised sores on a grid-like pattern as you can see in the picture above. For weeks afterwards, he suffered from diarrhea, headaches, blackouts and weight loss, but he didn’t lose his life.
What’s also interesting to note about the UFO phenomenon is that we see critical instrumentation failure of our own aircraft when in the vicinity of some of these objects. One of my favourite documented examples comes from an incident that took place in Iran in 1976,
“Iranian Air Force Jets and a UFO which played “cat and mouse” with them, appearing on radar and “paralyzing” their weapons and electronic systems when the jets attempted to open fire on it….As the F-4 approached a range of 25 nautical miles it lost all instrumentation and communications. When the F-4 turned away from the objects and apparently was no longer a threat to it, the aircraft regained all instrumentation and communications. Another brightly lighted object came out of the original object. The second object headed straight toward the F4.”
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Another Notable Incident
A second similar incident I’d like to share from you comes from Dr. Ardy Sixkiller Clarke, a Professor Emeritus at Montana State University who is Cherokee/Choctaw and has been researching the Star People and collecting encounters between them and Native Indians for many years.
In her book, “Encounters With Star People, Untold Stories of American Indians” she details many of these stories, and explains how her fascination with Star People came from stories told to her by her older relatives, like her grandmother, when she was a child.
“My people tell of Star People who came to us many generations ago. The Star people brought spiritual teachings and stories and maps of the cosmos and they offered these freely. They were kind, loving and set a great example. When they left us, my people say there was a loneliness like no other.”
— Richard Wagamese, a former well-known Indigenous writer in Canada. He was an author and journalist from the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in Northwestern Ontario.
This particular story comes from three American Indians who are military veterans. All three of them were stationed together at an Air Force base when this event occurred.
One of the men was named Arlan. Clarke actually knew Arlan 15 years before he told her his story. She describes how they first met while he served on the interview committee established by her school (Montana State University) in the hiring of a new faculty position that would recruit American Indian students and teach in the College of Education.
Arlan was on the hiring committee, and after Clarke was hired she stayed in contact with him and became part of his extended family.
He frequently stopped by my office at the University on his monthly trip to Helena to meet with the governor’s liaison on Indian Affairs. On one such visit, we sat in my office discussing tribal politics, when I noticed he was staring at the poster hanging on the wall. It pictured a UFO with words underneath it that read, “I believe.” “Do you believe?” he asked, pointing to the poster. “I do,” I replied. “I believe too,” he began.”
“When I was in the service, I was in the Air Force, most indians join the army, but I joined the Air Force. One night the whole base was on alert. An unidentified object appeared on radar. It was headed straight for the base. Several jet fighters scrambled in pursuit. They returned but the base remained on alert. That meant we were all in full combat uniform and dispersed around the perimeters.”
Arlan continues:
Around 2 a.m., a spacecraft appeared. It hovered over the base for a good 30 minutes. There were windows where you could see shadows moving, like someone walking around. We all stood there, our rifles ready to fire. The order never came. The UFO just hovered there, not moving, not making a sound. One foolish airman broke rank and ran in the direction of the craft, shouting and waving his rifle in the air. A beam of light shot out of the craft. He was frozen on the spot. When the light retracted, he fell on his face. A few seconds later, the craft flew away. Two hours later, we were called together and told it was a test and ordered not to talk about the event. I never did. I kept it a secret until this moment.”
“Why now” Clarke asked.
It’s that poster. That craft looked identical to the one we saw that night.“After the incident, did you ever talk to your buddies about it?” I asked. I never did. Within hours of the sighting, I was transferred to a different base. My friends were transferred out the same day. We were given 12 hours to prepare for our transfers. There was a lot of paperwork. We didn’t have much time to talk about the transfers or about the UFO. Some of us exchanged home addresses, but you know how it is when you’re 18. You think you’ll write, but you never do. I never saw or heard from any of those guys again.
Arlan did however know the names and addresses of the men when they were enlisted, and through that Clarke was able to track them down for a chat. Keep in mind this incident occurred decades ago.
Max:
Clarke asked Max about the UFO incident.
Yes, I remember. The brass told us never to talk about it. In fact, the said if we did talk, they would come after us. They told us we had witnessed a top-secret test to determine how we would react under unusual and stressful situations. I never believed them. It was a barefaced lie, and they thought we were so inexperienced and dumb that we would buy into anything…They said it was an experimental craft. It was all lies. Not even the big boys knew what that craft was or where it originated. They were shaking in their boots and the last thing they wanted was for the word to get out.
Arlan, Hank and me – we were sent to protect the entrance to the base. We took our positions and waited for an unknown enemy. We must have been there for over an hour. I was cold and my teeth were chattering. That’s when it happened. The craft came out of nowhere. Not a sound. Suddenly it just appeared hovering silently over the base. We didn’t know what to do. We are all nervous as hell. Our commanding officer told us not to fire, but to be ready to respond if something happened. This one guy, I don’t know if he lost his mind or what, went running toward the craft shooting. A light came out of the craft and he was stopped in his tracks for just a moment as though he was paralyzed, and then he dropped to the ground unconscious. A few moments later, the craft moved silently upward and disappeared into the night.”
A couple of years later, after I re-enlisted, I ran into one of the medics who was on-duty at the hospital that night when the UFO appeared. He told me that the guy was burned all over this face and body. He said he heard a doctor say it was radiation. He said they kept him in a sleep-induced coma for a while, and then they just let nature take its course. He died within a month of the incident.”
As you can see, the two examples above are just one of many stories I’ve come across in my 15 years of research into the phenomenon, and there are many such stories.
This is why when I came across Tucker’s Claims, I didn’t really doubt them and wasn’t really surprised to hear it.
BC has just decriminalized hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. BC could have learned from Portugal but went the US/ Portland way. Portland has had an increase of 20% in death overdoses since. The BC gov’s attempt will backfire because the street supply of illegal drugs is tainted. That is what is killing people. If you are seriously trying to eliminate drug overdoses you must supply the users with a clean supply of these drugs. It’s a half-ass plan that will not work. Just look at how BC dealt with Covid. It’s still offering Covid vaccines despite the fact that these experimental jabs are more dangerous than the actual disease. Lou
So what would happen if America actually ended its 52-year-old War on Drugs? What can we learn from the example of Portugal, which decriminalized all drugs in 2000? What about Oregon, which decriminalized them in 2021? What if the U.S. not only decriminalized drugs by ceasing to prosecute users but actually legalized commercial sales? Is any of this even possible amidst an opioid overdose crisis fueled by fentanyl? Join Reason’s Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller this Thursday at 1pm E.T. as they discuss all of these questions and more. Watch and leave questions and comments on the YouTube video above or on Reason’s Facebook page.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/skunk-avian-flu-1.6777565
The skunks may have contracted influenza by scavenging wild birds, B.C. government says
The Canadian Press · Posted: Mar 13, 2023
Eight skunks found dead last month in Vancouver and nearby Richmond, B.C., have tested positive for avian flu.
The B.C. government says it is the same strain of avian influenza associated with the outbreak that began in April 2022.
The skunks were found in residential areas in both cities and were taken to B.C.’s Animal Health Centre over concerns they may have been deliberately poisoned.
British Columbia’s Ministry of Agriculture says the skunks were infected with the same H5N1 strain that has caused the deaths of millions of domestic poultry since the outbreak began in April last year.
The ministry says in a statement the skunks may have contracted H5N1 by scavenging on infected wild birds.
The statement says while avian flu in skunks is considered to be a low risk to human health, there are always risks when people or pets come into contact with sick or dead wild animals.
Since last April, the ministry says wildlife infected by the flu included more than 20 species of wild birds, two skunks and a fox found in rural areas of the province.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/cbc-building-plastered-suspected-vaccine-injuries-deaths/5810429
By Gord Parks
Global Research, March 01, 2023
Bright Light News 27 February 2023
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Activists plastered hundreds of suspected Covid “vaccine” injuries and deaths onto the doors and windows of the CBC building on Front St. early this morning.
The CBC, Canada’s taxpayer-funded media corporation, has been charged by many to be complicit in propagandist lies over the safety of the experimental gene therapies.
Without any critical investigation, the CBC and other mainstream media outlets continue to push the “safe and effective narrative” in spite of overwhelming evidence of catastrophic and unprecedented levels of adverse events.
Seeking to bring attention to the injuries and deaths temporally related to Covid-19 “vaccines,” the activists worked feverishly to get the profiles up. Security guards were present but did not intervene.
Special report coming soon.
*PLEASE HELP US ADVOCATE FOR ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL RESPONSIBLE PARTIES. DONATE HERE TODAY OR E-TRANSFER gord@brightlightnews.com
CBC building front doors.One of the hundreds of “vaccine” injury and death profiles.After looking at the profiles, security guards return indoors.Charges of “vaccine” adverse events complicity for the CBC and mainstream media.A grim reminder of lives potentially damaged and ended by the mRNA shots.Activists plaster profiles high and low
Activists paste hundreds of suspected Covid-19 “vaccine” injuries and death profiles. “Justice for the Vaccinated” stickers appeared on the doors and windows.
*
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Copyright © Gord Parks, Bright Light News, 2023
It’s a little surprising that 67% of Canadians polled by Leger for the National Post agree with the statement, “It feels like everything is broken in this country right now.”
https://www.sott.net/article/477161-Poll-reveals-dark-mood-of-Canadians
Feb 7, 2023
Poll reveals dark mood of Canadians
Lorne Gunter
Toronto Sun
Tue, 07 Feb 2023
It’s a little surprising that 67% of Canadians polled by Leger for the National Post agree with the statement, “It feels like everything is broken in this country right now.”
That’s a variation on the common poll question, “Is the country headed in the wrong direction?” and I have seldom seen a negative answer so high.
It might even be doubly surprising because the “Canada is broken” mantra is closely aligned with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. For a lot of poll respondents, agreeing that the country is dysfunctional is equivalent to admitting they kind of, sort of think Poilievre might be onto something.
But what is really, truly surprising is that the most pessimistic Canadians are women and younger people, not grumpy, old men.
Women think Canada is broken more than men do, by a margin of 70% to 64%, just as Canadians under 55 are even more pessimistic than those over 55 – 72% to 61%.
Totally unsurprising is the fact that Westerners are more convinced Canada is a mess than are the residents of other regions. Given that the Trudeau government goes out of its way to anger and repress the West, it’s consistent that nearly three-quarters of Manitobans, Saskatchewanians and Albertans feel the country isn’t working.
Even the most optimistic Canadians, Quebecers, are still 59% in a dark mood.
(The irony in that number is that the most-contented Canadians – or the least-discontented – are residents of the province that is the least committed to Confederation. Although maybe that’s not ironic given how vigorously the Trudeau government panders to the PM’s home province.)
Leger found Canadians’ top concerns were inflation and health care – two issues that have direct impact on most people’s lives. Sixty-eight per cent find inflation a growing burden, while 59 per cent are concerned about the state of health care. Will there be a doctor or ER or hospital bed if they need one?
Many health-care workers will say privately that now is not a good time to get into an accident or catch a bad flu.
But what must truly keep politicians up at night are respondents’ answers to whether governments are doing enough to solve these problems. On both subjects, only about a quarter think Canadian leaders are taking their concerns seriously.
For the federal Liberals, who cling to minority power by their fingernails (and thanks the toadying submission of Jagmeet Singh and the NDP), this disconnect must cause their strategists heart palpitations.
Justin Trudeau swept to power in 2015 largely because voters thought he and the Liberals were more in touch with, as the saying goes, where they lived and with what was important to them.
Now Trudeau and the Liberals appear to be about as out-of-touch with ordinary voters as any government I can remember.
Fewer than half of voters for whom inflation and health care are top-of-mind think the Liberals are doing enough. It’s bad enough for politicians when voters think leaders don’t understand them on esoteric issues, such as foreign relations and tax policy. But when elected officials come to be seen as out-of-touch on basic, pocketbook issues, it usually spells doom to their re-election.
The Liberals have avoided defeat in the last two elections despite a ream of scandals, such as blackface, WE Charities and SNC-Lavalin, because a tiny plurality of voters still perceived them as the party that cared most.
But what does it mean for the Liberals’ fortunes if that is no longer true – if they are the party defending against a popular perception that the country has become “broken” while they were in charge.
No wonder the Liberals are in full divide-and-conquer mode, pressing hard on every wedge issue they can in an attempt to sneak back into office one more time.
New data shows that 100% of COVID deaths in Canada are being caused by the mRNA vaccines that were forced on the population by the Trudeau regime and Big Pharma.
Feb 1, 2023
New data shows that 100% of COVID deaths in Canada are being caused by the mRNA vaccines that were forced on the population by the Trudeau regime and Big Pharma.
Covid deaths in Canada doubled in 2022 with a 85% vaccinated population.
Health Canada reports Covid deaths week-by-week, starting from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
In 2020, the total Covid deaths reported to the Public Health Agency Canada by provinces and territories was 9,225.
In 2021, as vaccines became accessible to Canadians between January and July, Covid deaths didn’t decrease over the year. Instead, the figure slightly increased to 9,934.
And, in 2022, with an approximately 85% vaccinated population in January and a less deadly Covid variant dominant, Covid deaths increased again.
Over 2022, Health Canada data shows 15,844 deaths occurred due to Covid – almost double the number of deaths in 2020 when citizens were “unprotected.”
Over half of these reported deaths between 2020 and 2022 were among Canadians aged 80 years and older.
Health Canada no longer provides data on death by vaccination status. As such, there’s no way to decipher which deaths in 2022 were among vaccinated populations and which were among unvaccinated.
The health agency does show overall death percentages by vaccine status from the start of the vaccine rollout in December 2020. This data reveals that just over half of all Covid deaths took place among those who received at least one Covid vaccine.
Legacy media created hysteria around the Delta variant in 2021, as the just-vaccinated population was learning they were not immune from getting infected with – or dying from – Covid.
Data suggested that the Delta variant was more contagious than the previously dominant Alpha, but less deadly. Furthermore, research indicates the Omicron variant – which became dominant in 2022 – is even less lethal than the Delta.
As previously reported by The Counter Signal, Canada’s 2022 excess deaths trajectory is on pace to shatter the total from 2021 – and obliterate that from 2020.
Excess deaths is the term that indicates whether a region had more or fewer deaths than expected, given demographics and historical trends. The figure helps calculate the true impact of a health crisis.
Health Canada data indicates 13,940 excess deaths took place in 2022 up to August 27.
By this same period in 2021, the total excess deaths was 10,406. In 2020, the total was 8,057.
In other words, as the percentage of Canadians “vaccinated” against Covid increased, so too did the excess death total and the Covid deaths.
Children’s Health Defence Europe: Interview of Drs Charles Hoffe, Dr. Crystal Luchkiw, Dr. Patrick Phillips, Dr. Mark Trozzi and attorney Michael Alexander.
Global Research, January 12, 2023
Dr. Mark Trozzi 11 January 2023
***
Thanks to Aga Wilson and Children’s Health Defence Europe for bringing international attention to the unlawful weaponization of the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and British Columbia, against ethical doctors who maintain our oaths and responsibilities, while refusing to participate in the covid-crimes-against-humanity. Here is the interview.
I take great pride in being one of these physicians. Dr. Hoffe, Dr. Luchkiw, Dr. Phillips, and Michael Alexander JD and are on my short list of heroes.
Video: Dr. McCullough Facing Certifications Revocation for Alleged “False…Information” Dissemination
https://tube.childrenshealthdefense.eu/videos/embed/bdd15ed7-25b4-432e-828e-38a3e02365fb
*
There are plenty of Canadians on that list, including Chrystia Freeland, the Globe and Mail editor, the TD Bank group, the Ontario Teachers Pension plan, RBC Bank, and more.
In a first, Ottawa will acquire a NASAMS air-defense system from the US to give to Kiev, defense minister has said
“The announcement said that this assistance, valued at about $406 million, comes from the additional $500 million in military aid to Kiev announced by Ottawa in mid-November.”
https://www.rt.com/news/569695-canada-nasams-donation-ukraine/
Jan 11, 2023
© Wikipedia
Canada will purchase a National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) from the US in order to donate it to Ukraine, Defense Minister Anita Anand announced on Tuesday.
In a statement that came after the meeting of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden in Mexico, the Department of National Defense described the move as “a high-priority donation.” This gift is also expected to become “the first Canadian donation of an air defense system to Ukraine,” it added.
The announcement said that this assistance, valued at about $406 million, comes from the additional $500 million in military aid to Kiev announced by Ottawa in mid-November.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky thanked Trudeau “for helping us to protect our sky” with the NASAMS.
Russian drones far cheaper than Ukrainian air defenses – NYT
The NASAMS system, which can shoot down missiles, drones and warplanes, will enhance Ukraine’s air defense amid Russia’s attack on its military and energy infrastructure, Ottawa said. Moscow intensified its strikes on these Ukrainian facilities in early October in response to recurring sabotage on Russian soil orchestrated by Kiev.
Ukraine is already operating US-supplied NASAMS, with the Pentagon having committed to send eight such systems to Kiev.
However, in mid-November the combat activities of Ukrainian air defenses sent shockwaves across the entire world and reignited fears of WWIII after a Ukrainian missile fell on a Polish village, killing two civilians. These concerns were underpinned by Warsaw initially blaming Moscow for the incident. Later, however, it conceded that the projectile had been launched by Kiev’s forces.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West against providing Ukraine with weapons. In October, commenting on Washington’s promise to supply Kiev with NASAMS, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov reiterated that this aid “would prolong the conflict and make it more painful for the Ukrainian side,” arguing also that it would “not change the final result” of the hostilities.
Jan 9, 2023
This article was originally published by Patrick Carroll at The Foundation for Economic Education.
There’s an alternative to government licensing, and it already exists.
On January 3, Jordan Peterson used his recently-reinstated Twitter account to alert the world of a new development in his seemingly-endless battle with mainstream institutions.
“The Ontario College of Psychologists has demanded that I submit myself to mandatory social-media communication retraining with their experts for, among other crimes, retweeting Pierre Poilievre and criticizing Justin Trudeau and his political allies,” Peterson wrote.
According to Peterson, the College’s actions were prompted by roughly a dozen complaints submitted over the past four years. Notably, none of the complaints were brought by people Peterson interacted with in a clinical context. Rather, they seem to be motivated by political disagreements and only feature vague accusations of harm resulting from some of Peterson’s social media rhetoric.
“What exactly have I done that is so seriously unprofessional?” Peterson asks in a National Post column. “It is hard to tell with some of the complaints (one involved the submission of the entire transcript of a three-hour discussion on the Joe Rogan podcast), but here are some examples.”
He goes on to list some of the accusations of unprofessional conduct levied against him, which include retweeting a comment about the unnecessary severity of the Covid-19 lockdowns, criticizing Justin Trudeau and other politicians, and making a joke about the prime minister of New Zealand.
Peterson has indicated he is eager to release all the details of the accusations so the public can see the evidence and judge for themselves who is in the right, but the College has thus far not given permission to this effect.
To atone for his errors, Peterson was told he needs to take a mandatory social-media retraining course at his own expense. The course will be considered finished when the College’s experts are satisfied with his progress.
Naturally, Peterson refused to take the course. As a result, he now faces a mandatory public disciplinary hearing and the possible suspension of his clinical license. If he loses his license, he will be barred from practicing clinical psychology in Ontario and from representing himself as a psychologist.
A Tool for Censorship
This isn’t the first time the licensing system has been weaponized against professionals with unpopular views. In an infamous 2021 statement from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario—the provincial regulatory body for medical doctors—doctors were effectively told to get on board with the official Covid narrative or risk losing their license.
“Physicians hold a unique position of trust with the public,” the statement reads, “and have a professional responsibility to not communicate anti-vaccine, anti-masking, anti-distancing, and anti-lockdown statements and/or promoting unsupported, unproven treatments for COVID-19. Physicians must not make comments or provide advice that encourages the public to act contrary to public health orders and recommendations. Physicians who put the public at risk may face an investigation by the CPSO and disciplinary action when warranted.”
These were not empty threats. One Ontario physician, Dr. Patrick Phillips, had his license suspended in May 2022 for “inappropriate” COVID-19 treatments and advice.
As these and many other examples make clear, the licensing system can be a powerful weapon for censorship. And it’s no mystery why. Professionals need licenses to legally practice their profession. Even if there are relatively few suspensions in practice, the mere fact that your license could be suspended has a huge impact. Self-censorship is likely rampant in fields like law, medicine, and psychology on account of this threat.
The Underlying Problem: Government Licensing
Though the administrators of licensing systems certainly carry much of the blame for intimidating professionals into conformity, the root of the problem is the licensing regulations themselves. If these were private clubs that were threatening to revoke membership, it wouldn’t really matter. The reason this is such a big deal is that these bodies are empowered by the government to strip professionals of their livelihoods. If licensing laws were repealed, these regulatory bodies would have no teeth, and thus no ability to threaten and coerce professionals.
The objection, of course, is that we need licensing to protect consumers from unethical and incompetent practitioners. But why should the government get to decide who is unethical and incompetent? Why not you, the consumer?
“Consumers are ignorant,” we are told. “They need an expert to help them verify competence.”
Fair enough, but that doesn’t mean the government needs to get involved. There’s an alternative system that removes the coercive element while still allowing consumers to verify that the services they buy are trustworthy. That alternative is free-market certification. Anyone who cares about government censorship would do well to at least familiarize themselves with this alternative to the status quo.
Let’s briefly explore how it could work.
How a Free-Market Certification System Could Replace Government Licensing
Though a free-market certification system could take many forms, one form that would likely emerge is a series of voluntary professional associations. Though professionals would be legally allowed to work without an affiliation to a known association, their potential customers will be looking for indicators of trustworthiness, so professionals will find it to their advantage to join these groups. Professional associations like these already exist for precisely this reason in all sorts of unregulated professions, such as Osteopathy.
An association for psychologists might call themselves the Psychological Professionals of Ontario (PPO). To become a member, PPO would have certain requirements you must fulfill, such as graduating from a school they approve of and perhaps passing a test demonstrating to them that you know what you’re doing. Once you’ve met these requirements, PPO would grant you their certificate of approval (membership) which you can then use when advertising to potential clients. PPO would also likely have a series of reasonable rules that their members must abide by in order to keep their certificate. Practitioners who transgress those rules can be kicked out of the association. This could make life somewhat difficult for these practitioners, but—and this is the key difference—it doesn’t interfere with their legal right to practice.
If PPO has a good reputation for high standards, consumers can be confident that a PPO-certified psychologist will be ethical and competent. If PPO gives certificates to psychologists who turn out to be poor practitioners, however, or if they are arbitrary and capricious in their judgments, their reputation could take a hit, and members might move to a competing association with a better track record. Professional associations, then, like any organization on the free market, will live and die by their competence and probity, and will constantly face accountability from the market.
So let’s say I live in such a society without professional licensing and I decide to see a psychologist. Clearly, I won’t just pay the first person on the street who adopts that title. Instead, I might ask friends for recommendations or look online for established practitioners who have been in business for a while. Once I have a short list, I would probably look up consumer reviews on the people I’m considering and look up their professional affiliations. Armed with this information, I’d make a choice. I might not get the best person, but chances are I’ll find someone decent. At the very least, I’ll easily be able to avoid gross incompetence.
“That makes sense,” you might say, “but what about the people who don’t do their homework? Aren’t they at risk of hiring someone incompetent?”
Yes, I suppose they are. But this is hardly for lack of information. They had ample opportunity to verify the qualifications of the seller if they wanted to.
There comes a point where we simply need to say Caveat emptor—let the buyer beware. At the end of the day, it’s the buyer’s responsibility to make sure they know what they’re getting into. And if they get hurt because they didn’t do their due diligence, that’s kind of on them. It’s not the government’s job to protect people from making bad personal choices, especially since what constitutes a “bad choice” is often a matter of contention, as it is in Peterson’s case.
“Once the principle is admitted that it is the duty of the government to protect the individual against his own foolishness,” Mises warned, “no serious objections can be advanced against further encroachments.”
The point is that consumers, not bureaucrats, should determine whose services will be bought on the market. And while it’s true that consumers generally know little about the field in question, professional associations, consumer reviews, and word of mouth are beyond sufficient to provide them with the necessary information to judge whether a given practitioner will be good at their job.
Peterson’s ability to practice psychotherapy should depend on his track record and reputation, not on the whims of bureaucrats. The same goes for every other professional, no matter their field.
This narcissistic man was born into Canadian royalty and never had to work in his life. He could have pursued a few degrees and learned stuff. Instead, he became a drama teacher. He is not intelligent enough to realize that he is hated and scorned all over Canada and the world. We are sick of this petulant fart. Lou
https://paulwells.substack.com/p/morneau-on-trudeau-sorely-lacking?utm_medium=web
Jan 7, 2023
Chronic weaknesses in the Liberal government weren’t fixed, the former finance minister says in a new book, and Canada’s prosperity suffered
Justin Trudeau’s “management and interpersonal communication abilities were sorely lacking,” former finance minister Bill Morneau writes in a new book. Lingering challenges were “not managed on a daily basis at the highest level.” The federal cabinet was “chosen not necessarily for what they brought to the business of governing but to the needs of promotion.” Morneau says the Prime Minister’s Office often told him to “give” quarrelsome colleagues “something to keep them happy,” so that “money became a means for the PMO to manage egos and relationships between cabinet ministers.”
The blunt and extended critique of the government in which he served from 2015 to 2020 is far from the only theme in Where To From Here: A Path to Canadian Prosperity, to be published Jan. 17 by ECW Press. Especially in its second half, the book presents Morneau’s case for government that would build better relationships within Ottawa and with the provinces, in pursuit of long-term prosperity that Morneau views as threatened.
His years in government “convinced me that productivity improvement is the most important issue on our agenda,” he writes, “and we are not focused on it.”
…
Morneau reveals early on what many suspected: when he resigned from the government at the height of the first COVID-19 lockdown in August 2020, it wasn’t primarily to seek the top job at the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, a global NGO dedicated to proposing growth policies for Canada and a bunch of peer countries. He did plan to try for the post, but he knew it was a long shot. Mostly he was furious at a campaign of embarrassing media leaks against him, orchestrated, he believed, from Trudeau’s office.
“I began by explaining to the prime minister that the leaks from his office about me and my ministry had become intolerable,” he writes. “They had grown in both number and degree of malice…”
Trudeau “replied that he was not aware of the leaks, and he had no idea where they were coming from.” Morneau doesn’t buy it. “Really?”
Tales from the Conspiratum 