🇨🇦’s road death rate is now less than half that of US. In 1980 they were the same. “Most high-income countries have reduced road deaths substantially over the past decades. But the United States has made much less progress than other rich countries, and has even gone backward since the mid-2010s.”

Alberta and the southern prairies have adequate moisture at the end of July. However, northern Saskatchewan continued to be abnormally dry to in extreme drought as did parts of NWT and south and western BC.

This photo at Nemieben Lake in north Saskatchewan after a major 2015 fire shows how fire burns down to mineral soil/rock in hotter, drier, windier conditions the north now experiences in summers. The burning of this dried, normally moist/wet peaty soil releases massive amounts of carbon & smoke.

Something is very different: the last four years in 🇨🇦 have seen the highest area burned by wildfires in the past decade, and well above the 23-year average.

🇨🇦’s forest fires today.

China is rapidly dominating the world’s electric vehicle export market. In May its one-month exports of EVs surpassed $9B US.

No, this is not normal. In Saskatchewan, 2015 was a turning point, with major fires in the north. We have since had two more major fire summers. Canada’s northern forests are burning as the climate changes.

Even if we aren’t experiencing wildfire smoke right now b/c of favourable winds, northern Canada is still ablaze from coast to coast to coast. 2/2

🇨🇦’s drop in electric vehicles sold as % new vehicles in 2025 was an exception in the world, a result of federal / BC incentives ending. As federal incentives return this year the % will likely ⬆️ again. Meanwhile Norway, China, Europe & the UK are rapidly shifting to EVs. Even the US is at 10%.

If you are wondering where the smoke is coming from: 🇨🇦’s boreal forest is on fire - from coast to coast to coast.

Except in exceptional situations, only catchers should be challenging pitches.

As of May 31, little of Saskatchewan under drought conditions.

🇨🇦 truly is a mosaic. Immigrants come from a multitude of countries around the world. 🇨🇦 is an attractive destination. Almost 7 times more people here were born elsewhere than have left 🇨🇦 for elsewhere. Only a little more than 2% of 🇨🇦’s current population has left to live elsewhere - mostly the US.

…summary read the attached one-page Conclusion. The link to the full report is the thread below of my previous posts. I was unable to copy from the report pdf for Alt text, but the conclusion is on page 99 of the linked report. 2/2

🇨🇦 ranks as the world’s 14th most peaceful & safe country. Iceland ranks first. The US ranks 134th, behind South Africa, Lebanon & Venezuelan. Joining the US? No thanks. Not in a million years. 1/2

“At the turn of the millennium, Australia got more than 80% of its electricity from coal. This has dropped to less than 45%.” At first coal was replaced by gas, but gas is now on also declining. Solar is now Australia’s 2nd-largest electricity source.

Here is the RM FB post:

SaskTel finally making much-needed security improvement to email security systems /filtering. Its email has become very phishy & spammy. The most aggravating spam is that coming supposedly from SaskTel itself or from one’s own address, as you cannot block it without blocking your own mail to self.

Global sales of combustion engine cars peaked in 2017. Growth since then has been in electric cars.

Saskatchewan, stuck in a time warp, as the rest of the world speeds by.

Saskatchewan’s rate of hospitalization rates for vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases in 2024-25 was the highest among 🇨🇦’s provinces. ~2400 hospitalizations could have been prevented with immunization. >40% of these admissions were for COVID. 1/

Saskatoon’s plan to densify along new major corridors for bus rapid transit continues to progress. Property owners within several blocks of corridors now offered free, opt-in re-zoning applications. #yxe’s transformation to a larger, modern city continues as it grows well past 300K pop.

“🇨🇦’s Canada's economy certainly doesn't feel great right now. But it is posting the second-best rate of growth in the G7.” - @armstrongcbc.bsky.social weekly newsletter

Functional health was highest in Quebec (also the province with highest life expectancy). Saskatchewan ranked 6th, ahead only of NS, NB & BC. Saskatchewan showed 3rd largest decline in functional health 2015 to 2024, behind only NS & AB. 2/2

…(Children’s Hospital & ER excepted). Originally built by the Tommy Douglas govt as a crown jewel of the SK health system, today, though still SK’s main tertiary care centre, it is constantly over capacity, difficult to access, outdated in design & generally a shabby, poorly maintained building. 2/

But: is this (not mentioned in the presentations) the Trojan horse for Alberta-style privatized health care? (Listed under next steps) 4/

…in western 🇨🇦 and in the middle of the pack in 🇨🇦. 2/2

Here is the source data for these charts: 7/7

This chart shows change in life expectancy from 2019 through 2024. In no province has life expectancy returned to 2019 levels, despite COVID being “over”. The province with the least drop is Quebec, where life expectancy in 2014 is only 0.2 years less than 2019. And Saskatchewan? Well, … 4/

How are we in Saskatchewan doing with life expectancy through COVID? Pretty awful, actually. New Statistics Canada report shows SK life expectancy is 2nd lowest of 🇨🇦’s provinces in 2024, down from 3rd lowest in last year before the pandemic. What’s worse is… 1/ (see also alt text)