By Mary Redcord Senior Fellow, CanadianBullshit.com
 |
Get a bit closer -I need to sneeze!
Editor's Note: This page is organized in chronological order. If you have limited time -skip to the last update for the latest information. Please note the significant changes in Update July 24th/09 If you have more time reviewing the earlier entries will give you a better perspective about how the problem started. Miss Redcord can be a bit mean at times but she is our CFO and they tend to call it as they see it.
It is May 8th 2009 and for several weeks now the swine flu has been a major news item. I have watched the reporting and basically was shocked by the error level shown by both the media and many so called experts. Were they were getting it all wrong? Or was I being overly critical? Lets take a look. Here is how the news went:
1. A new flu first called Swine Flu originated in Mexico and was spreading (true)
2. There was the odd outbreak in the US and Canada but "symptoms were mild here" while in Mexico people were dying. (not so true)
3. Experts thought there might be a mutated strain in North America or possibly our medical system was better so we suffered fewer deaths. It was pointed out that the normal flu strain kills about 4000 each year in Canada so this one was by comparison very mild. (not true at all about the mutation -genetic testing proved that it is the same flu)
4. The WHO raised the pandemic alert to 5 and some countries took very aggressive methods to stop the spread. Others like Canada did not.(not smart)
5 That there is an element of humor about the swine flu mostly due to it's name and the often funny appearance of a pig.(not so funny if it kills you)
Here is the problem. It's called grade five math. The major reason that the number of deaths was higher in Mexico was that more people had contacted the flu there. It would appear that the mortality rate is somewhere around one half of one percent. Therefore for every 200 people who contact the flue you could expect one person to die from it. Until you start seeing these volumes you would not expect to see any or many deaths. The so called mystery can be simply explained by a simple percentage something that seemed to go over the heads of our commentators and so called experts.
It gets worse. Based on the very likely incorrect presumption that the flu was mild our experts advised us to simply wash our hands and cough into our sleeves and stay home if we felt sick. They said that any other more aggressive steps would be pointless and a waste of time and money. This in fact may NOT be the best approach. I suggest you may wish to review the formula for bullshit and note the effect it has when applied to conclusions. After reviewing that I then suggest you review our stupidity page which explains that 25% of our population is stupid.
We will learn more when we see if the numbers catching the flu greatly increase and if there is a predictable mortality based on the experience in Mexico. If that occurs then we have a serious problem because one half of one percent extrapolated to millions of Canadians will result in tens of thousands of deaths. This will be significantly in excess of the 4000 or so that die every year from the regular flu we see. I better do the math for you because some people find percentages "too difficult". Remember the key factor here is the mortality rate and the number of infections and both numbers are unknown at this time. So these represent estimates. The red col below indicates my latest calculated mortality rate in Canada. See my notes on mortality rate and note that the more people who catch the flu the worse it gets.
| Number of Swine Flu Infections | Deaths at 1/2 of 1% mortality | Deaths at 1% mortality | deaths at 2.7% Mexico | deaths at .0044% |
| 200 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 2000 | 10 | 20 | 54 | 9.0 |
| 20,000 | 100 | 200 | 540 | 90 |
| 2,000.000 | 1000 | 2000 | 54000 | 9000 |
| 20,000,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 | 540,000 | 90000 |
I looked at this one from strictly a mathematical perspective and the comments are based on the apparent mortality rates to date which appear to be slightly less than one half of one percent of the people who become infected.
Several questions are raised here. Is this a conspiracy? Do certain people in power wish us to soldier on oblivious to the the real dangers? Or are there real dangers? Is it really safe to eat pork? The producers claim it is. Yet some countries have banned Canadian pork and others have culled herds. Billions of dollars are involved. Is it all about the money? Personally I don't think that it is a conspiracy theory. But I do think that we are not getting the complete story from our government and scientists. Our media is grateful for a hot story and they are milking it for all it's worth. This story has legs and it attracts viewers and that's how you make advertising dollars and pay the bills.
We have included some links with the latest information on Swine Flu. Clearly there is a "spin factor" on the information presented from the Canadian government sites so keep that in mind.
My conclusions at this time (May 8th/09) are that the information presented to the Canadian public has been misleading and that there is the potential for a very significant number of deaths exceeding the 4000 or so from the annual flu if the infection rate becomes general across the population. Unfortunately, the Canadian tendency is to make a joke out of a problem and the fact that this disease is named after a pig has resulted in too many Canadians thinking the entire situation is a bit of a joke. As time progresses and the number of infections increases we will be better able to judge just what is happening here. In my opinion if we encounter a death approximately every 200 infections that would be a very bad sign.
Good luck! oink oink. Remember all those bacon sandwiches you had? -They are getting even! Porkers revenge.
The bottom line here is the mortality rate. What is it? If you trust our government to manage this situation think again. How have they managed the economy? How did they manage the listeriosis outbreak? How did they manage the EI program? How about the gun registry? Good luck!
Update May 10th 2009 Mexico reports 45 deaths and 1645 cases for a mortality rate of 2.77% Canada reports 1 death and 280 cases for a mortality of 0.0036%, the USA reports 2 deaths and 2254 cases for a mortality of 0.00089%. Overall in the world there are reports of 4379 infections and 49 deaths for a mortality rate of 0.01%. Note however that the infections have not run their course and it is possible that when they do the mortality rates will be higher. The only logical conclusion one can make here is that by reducing the spread of the virus one will reduce the deaths caused by the virus. This logic supports the strong steps taken by many countries to quarantine people infected with the virus and questions the position of Canada which apparently has chosen to basically ignore the problem and not take any decisive action to limit the spread of the virus. We have been telling our citizens to wash their hands and cough into their sleeves but no masks or quarantines have been used as in other countries.
At this point the death toll is very low except in Mexico where over half the worlds infections have occurred. It appears that a major factor here is the rate of growth of infections. If the virus spreads at a growing rate we will have a serious medical problem -if it slows down or stops the only problem then is the risk of mutation over time which is a significant problem in itself!
By tracking the numbers we should be aware of what is really going on in a few days or weeks.
Update May 13/09 I noted today that the total deaths are now 60 with confirmed cases of 5728 world wide which is approximately a 1% mortality so I have revised the tables above to include that figure. Canada has approximately 1/10th of those infected in the USA which is about right for our population which is 1/10 of the USA. Note the mortality rate in Mexico -2.7% is about three times that of the USA and Canada. I have highlighted Canada's likely mortality rate on the table in yellow.
Update May 16/2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 8451 deaths 72 mortality rate approx 0.0085 or just under 1% Since Canadian infections are now at 496 with one death to date strictly by the mortality percentage we are now overdue for another death. If we continue to track down the approximate 1% mortality rate the big question then becomes the potential spread of the flu. If nothing is done to prevent the spread of the flu then we will have a very significant mortality problem in Canada but if the flu does not spread to a large population say under 20,000 then the loss of life will be comparable to other seasonal flu outbreaks. Unfortunately these simple facts or conclusions are not being made available to Canadians. I could certainly be wrong. (like that would happen!)
Update May 21/2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 11034 total deaths from swine flu 85 mortality rate 0.0077 or approximately three quarters of one percent. Canadian infections now at 719 with 1 death for a mortality rate of .0014 or about one fifteenth of one percent. It is becoming clearer that the Canadian mortality rate is much lower than mexico's and lower than that of the world's average which is heavily skewed my Mexico results. In fact Mexico's mortality rate to date compared to Canada's is about five times ours. On the other hand we are still not dealing with a large number of infections and just one cluster of deaths could push us up to Mexico's mortality rate very quickly.
Note on my use of "mortality rate" I have simply taken the total infected and the total who have died. Of course you will realize that in the infected group some will eventually die so the rates should be understated. We will only know the exact mortality rate after all those infected either get better or croak.
Update May 30/2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 15510 total deaths from swine flu 99 mortality rate 0.0064 or approximately two thirds of one percent. Canadian infections now at 1118 with 2 deaths for a mortality rate of .0018 or about one eighteenth of one percent. We are now obtaining enough numbers to establish a pattern. It looks like the mortality rate is relatively low for Canada at a fraction of one percent of those infected. Keep in mind that your chances of dying of the swine flu are still much much better than winning the lotto 14 million to one or getting hit by lightening 576,000 to one or the swine flu at about 15 million to one or should you actually catch swine flu about 560 to one that you will die from it. The message here so far is that you really don't need to worry much about it unless you actually catch swine flu at which point your chances of not dying are still pretty good but something to keep in mind.
The danger here appears to be if there is a wide spread of the disease to millions of Canadians or if the virus mutates to a more deadly form. But so far so good.
Update June 2/2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 17410 total deaths from swine 116 mortality rate 0.0066 or approximately two thirds of one percent. Canadian infections now at 1336 with 3 deaths (only 2 were on the WHO #42 report but one more did die) for a mortality rate of .0022. Note that the mortality rate in Canada is approximately one third of the average world mortality rate. There was a significant increase of 218 cases in Canada from the last report on May 30th. This may be a reflection of the fact that the virus is in a densely populated Canadian center and should the infection rate continue to increase at this rate we may have a problem.
Update June 6, 2009
Total world infections verified by lab results 21,940 total deaths from swine 125 mortality rate 0.0057 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 1795 with 3 deaths for a mortality rate of .0017. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 11,054 infections and 17 deaths for a mortality of .0015 very similar to the Canadian rate. We should keep any eye on the rate of growth in Canada as it was higher this last week.
Update June 8, 2009
Total world infections verified by lab results 25,288 total deaths from swine 139 mortality rate 0.0055 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 2115 with 4 deaths for a mortality rate of .0019. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 13,217infections and 27 deaths for a mortality of .0020 nearly identical than the Canadian rate. The Canadian media is NOT reporting what is actually going on in Canada regarding the swine flu. As an example of all the countries in the world we have the third most number of infections after the USA and Mexico and our population is much lower than most other countries. Why is that not being reported? My concern at this point is why is the virus spreading so fast in Canada? Are we not isolating our infected citizens? Because clearly they are passing the virus on to other Canadians and also just as clearly this will result in needless death and illness and at some point should the infection total increase past a certain point say for example if two million or more infections our hospitals will be overwhelmed and the death rate will go up over 3800. The average Canadian is misinformed about the significance of the swine flu as it pertains to Canada.
Another warning. As mentioned I have used the term "mortality rate" by simply taking the number of deaths and dividing by the total number of infections. This is not a precision measurement of the actual mortality rate because the virus needs to run it's course before we see how many people die from it.
It is not a time to panic but clearly it is foolish to simply dismiss this virus as a joke. We need to be aware of what is going on.
Update June 10/09 Manitoba has just switched to a disaster footing to deal with the Swine Flu adopting a pandemic response - making it the first Canadian Province to do so. This is something we had been predicting here as we pointed out the problem with limited ICU beds in Canada and what would happen when those resources are overwhelmed. I hope this step serves to alert the average Canadian that indeed we are dealing with something very serious. Again not a time to panic but also not a time to continue with the old attitude that all is well and that the swine flu is just an over reaction which it is most certainly not.
Total world infections verified by lab results 27,737 total deaths from swine 141 mortality rate 0.0051 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 2446 with 4 deaths for a mortality rate of .0016. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 13,217infections and 27 deaths for a mortality of .0020 slightly higher the Canadian rate.
warning I have just noted a difference between the WHO numbers and internal Canadian govt numbers and what is clearly an error in the WHO numbers in that the amounts for the USA have been carried over without change to their report #46 from report# 45. In the case of the Canadian numbers our government site is reporting 503 MORE infections than the WHO site indicates. So clearly there are reporting problems which may relate to different report dates or just plain sloppy math. These are the best numbers we can access but I would like to refer you to our formula for bullshit page Having worked in both Accounting and Science in my previous lives it pains me to see something like this but what do you do when you live in a shoe. We will continue to press on with this warning on the accuracy of the numbers.
Note on the Canadian Minister of Health. To date I have been impressed with how Minister Leona Aglukkaq and her Ministry staff has handled the swine flu problem. I am not a big fan of the Conservative government's performance but this minister is an exception. This website is here to root out problems and suggest a better way and sometimes in doing that we encounter some really good people who are doing a great job. Which is a relief!
Update June 11/09 Swine flu declared a pandemic by WHO. Hopefully this will cause some Canadians to pause and reconsider their previous attitudes on the disease and the risk it represents to them and their families. Canada has a good Health Care system in place and a very good Minister of Health. Now is the time to stop sniping and whining and join together to limit the spread of this virus. In our point of view the math is pretty easy to understand. For every approximate 2000 Canadians who do NOT contract the swine flu we will save approximately 3 lives. That is certainly worth the effort.
Update June 13/2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 29,669 total deaths from swine 145 mortality rate 0.0049 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 2978 with 4 deaths for a mortality rate of .0013. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 13,217infections and 27 deaths for a mortality of .0020 slightly higher the Canadian rate. I noticed two things here that the Canadian medical system seems to be doing a good job keeping the mortality rate down even lower than that in the USA and point two that there was another big jump in the Canadian numbers since the last WHO report.
Update June 16/2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 35,928 total deaths from swine 163 mortality rate 0.0049 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 2978 with 11 deaths for a mortality rate of .0037. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 17,855 infections and 45 deaths for a mortality of .0025 slightly lower than the Canadian rate. We just saw a sudden increase in the number of deaths in Canada from the last report from 4 to 11. The actual numbers of infected are higher than the 2978 indicated on report #49 of the WHO so the "mortality rate" calculation is over stated at .0037. This is a very significant change (increase) in the number of deaths. The number of infections are also rising at a worrying rate. It is still not time to panic however there is absolutely no reason to assume that this pandemic is a joke.
The ICU situation. We located a 2003 stat that indicated there were 3.2 acute care beds per 1000 Canadians. Again when you do the simple grade five math this is not good because this would be approximately equal to the number of deaths from 1000 infections at our existing swine flu mortality rate. Hopefully somebody is tracking this but the problem with the Canadian medical system is that each Province runs their own and getting stats out of the system means going into over ten different jurisdictions with different reporting systems. It is abysmally stupid for dealing with an epidemic type problem but fairly efficient for dealing with normal medical care within each jurisdiction.
Clearly there needs to be more critical analysis of this swine flu problem. We have listed a opening for a researcher on our help wanted page if you are interested in helping.
Update June 18th 2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 39,620 total deaths from swine 167 mortality rate 0.0042 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 4049 with 11 deaths for a mortality rate of .0027. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 17,855 infections and 44 deaths for a mortality of .0025 about the same as the Canadian rate. For those of you who have been following this we are seeing Canadian infections increase more rapidly. This is not good. Because we have one tenth of the population of the USA we might think that we should have approximately 1785 infections but in fact we have over 100% more than that and our deaths are even higher. Also I took the deaths from report#50 from the WHO report however I believe the actual flu deaths in Canada as reported to date are higher by at least two.
If we continue to see this rate of growth for Canadian infections we will soon have a very serious health problem. Again the media is not getting the message out to Canadians. We are. We don't make this stuff up - just report the facts and let you decide.
Update June 22th 2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 52,160 total deaths from swine 231 mortality rate 0.0044 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 5710 with 13 deaths for a mortality rate of .0023. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 21,449 infections and 87 deaths for a mortality of .0041 about the same as the Canadian rate.
A couple of notes here. Canada is number 3 in the world in total infections with Mexico as number 2. However new infections in Canada are more than the new infections in Mexico and soon we will be second in the world only to the USA which has ten times our population. Also our mortality rate is significantly lower than both the world rate and the rate in the USA and although it is possible this could change as the infections run their course it also many illustrate the fact that our Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq and Provincial Heath Authorities are doing an excellent job treating the infections. The worrisome factor is why are we number three in the world in infections?
Update June 23th 2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 52,160 total deaths from swine 231 mortality rate 0.0044 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 5710 with 20 deaths for a mortality rate of .0035. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 21,449 infections and 87 deaths for a mortality of .0041 about the same as the Canadian rate. The sudden jump in deaths since the last update is predictable based on the tracked mortality rates for the world.
What I find particularly objectionable is the media's attempt to make a story about the hand sanitizers to northern bands. The real story is the fact that Canada is soon to be the second most infected country in the world and the established mortality rate is resulting in a completely predictable number of deaths that we have been tracking for months. The media still doesn't get it and tonight I saw Lloyd Robertson of the CTV actually saying that the swine flu had not lost any of its potency again completely missing the point. It is the total infections dummy! As the infections increase so will the number of citizens the virus kills and our calculated rate to date is approximately .0033% - check out the table below in the red column and the deaths are all calculated for you. It makes one wonder if the media so misinforms the public on the swine flu what are they doing with other news items?
Update June 25th 2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 55,867 total deaths from swine 238 mortality rate 0.0043 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 6457 with 21 deaths for a mortality rate of .0033. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 21,449 infections and 87 deaths for a mortality of .0041 slightly more than the Canadian rate. The sudden jump in deaths since the last update is predictable based on the tracked mortality rates for the world. Apparently now the Prime Minister is "very concerned" He should have been concerned at day one if he understood the problem. But being a "trained economist" I guess he is better with predicting where the economy is going. (hahahahahha)
Update June 29th 2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 70,893 total deaths from swine 311 mortality rate 0.0044 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 7775 with 22 deaths for a mortality rate of .0028. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 27,717 infections and 127 deaths for a mortality of .0046 -significantly more than the Canadian rate. As predicted on June 22nd we are getting very close to pushing Mexico out of #2 in the world for most infections. The worrisome factor is the rate at which the infections are spreading in Canada with over 1000 new cases since the last WHO report. This is not a good sign. Obviously we need to do more to prevent the spread of the virus and I don't see any action from the government to achieve this. Also as the number of new infections increases we can expect to see approximately 3 additional deaths per 1000 infections so those new 1000 infections since the last report will result in those deaths. It's just grade five math now. And I still don't see the reality of the situation being reported in the media. They got sidetracked on hand sanitizers and alcoholic Indians because that is the typical CNN style story that sells advertising. It has almost nothing to do with the problems Canada faces with this virus.
Update July 3 2009 Total world infections verified by lab results 89,921 total deaths from swine 382 mortality rate 0.0042 or approximately one half of one percent. Canadian infections now at 7983 with 33 deaths for a mortality rate of .0041. For Comparison purposes I will include the US figures. 33902 infections and 170 deaths for a mortality of .0050 -slightly more than the Canadian rate. I predicted on June 22nd that we are getting very close to pushing Mexico out of #2 in the world for most infections. This prediction turned out to be incorrect as Mexico reported a large increase in infections and is now firmly in number 2 spot while Canada remains in number 3 in the world in infections. Note that the mortality rate for the world infections is bang on the mortality rate for Canadian infections this report. So what this means is that we can expect 3 or 4 deaths per 1000 infections so this in turn means that for every 1000 who do not catch the virus by preventative action that we save 3 or 4 lives. There is great incentive for instituting widespread preventative action in Canada immediately to prevent the continuing spread of this virus. This is the story that the media is missing. The public has not been told this and they continue to not get it.
Update July 17th 2009 Some interesting developments. The WHO has decided to stop counting flu cases and suggests that countries do the same. In Canada there have been 45 deaths and 10,156 confirmed cases for a mortality rate of .0044% The number of hospitalizations is 1115 or 11% of those infected. And the media is STILL not getting the news right. As an example there were recent reports that over 200 kids at summer camp contracted the swine flu but the main message sent was that the symptoms were mild, that there was nothing to worry about and that parents should simply not send their kids to camp if they showed any symptoms of the swine flu. The media and the general population simply does not understand simple grade five math. If 2000 kids catch the flu YES MOST of the symptoms will be mild. But the real story is that 8 kids will most surely die after 220 kids are hospitalized. And that is one heck of a big story but the mortality rates have been established and that is exactly what is likely to happen. The real danger continues to be that our hospital ICU spaces will be overwhelmed and that if the flu continues to spread as it is more and more people will die. For 2 every 2000 infections approximately 8 will die even with available hospital care. Without available ICU spaces death rates will be even higher.
My opinion is that there are some very powerful interests who do NOT want the average Canadian to be aware of reality here and that it all comes down to money.
July 24th 2009 Update There has been a very significant development in the Swine flu story which for some strange reason is not being fully reported in the media as to it's significance. A couple of days ago I caught a CBC report that the number of swine flu cases in the UK had grown to 100,000. and that they were now in third place in the number of world infections. At first I thought this was a misprint and that somebody had screwed up on the decimal point. But now I see more references to the 100,000 infections. What this means is that since the WHO decided to stop counting a few days ago the UK totals went from around 10,000 infections to TEN TIMES that amount. Again the stupid media is downplaying the news by telling us yet again that in the great majority of cases the flu has only very mild symptoms. The real story of course and the point we have made here several times is that the established mortality rate is approximately 0.0044% which means that in 100,000 infections we will surely see 440 deaths and over 10,000 hospital admissions. And this is just the start. Up until now I have been saying that it is not time to panic. Now I am saying that low grade panic is OK. Clearly something big has happened here.
The problem now is that in order to provide you with information on the swine flu I have been using the figures posted by the WHO and they have stopped counting so those figures are no longer available. We should be able to work backwards by taking the number of deaths and calculating the size of the infected group by the number of deaths it produces as the mortality rate is well established now. However there will be no way of confirming this figure. We are approaching the traditional flu season for Canada and all expectations are that there will be a large spike in the number of infections.
What does it all mean? It is clear to me that the situation with swine flu will get much much worse in the next few months and that it is likely we will enter an emergency health situation. This webpage roots out bullshit and suggests a better way. In the case of this topic we put up this page because of the poor reporting done by the media. However, in the case of Minister Leona Aglukkaq we think that she and her Ministry of Health staff are doing a great job!
November 27th 2009 Update We haven't updated the page for several weeks and it is time to bring it up to date! As we thought the Minister of Health Ms. Leona Aglukkaq and her staff have done an excellent job. The opposition parties attempted to play politics with the swine flu but the Minister kept on task and just did her job! Very impressive. The vaccine was delivered early and high risk Canadians were vaccinated in the largest vaccination in Canadian history. Local Health Unit staff did an excellent job and they worked like beavers to deal with long line ups. My CEO was in the high risk group so got his shot on October 28th. Unfortunately he then contracted the swine flu on October 30th. The problem was that he had apparently been infected about the same time he got his shot and it takes about ten days for the immunity to kick in. He was sick as a dog for six days and remarked that his temperature control was gone so he was cold and he felt like somebody had kicked him in the lungs plus he had zero energy. No fever. He said it was the worst flu he ever had and the man is ancient (61) so he should know. This is another reason for getting the vaccine. At this point with over 8 million Canadians inoculated the growth of the virus has slowed and things are looking good. Had the vaccine not been available this could have been a health emergency and a disaster.
What I find worrisome is that a large number of Canadians never really understood the swine flu. Even our on line poll shows that there is a problem in that area. I blame the media for really poor reporting which was often subjective and non factual in nature. Many people thought the symptoms were mild and that there was nothing to worry about. They didn't understand that the virus headed for your lungs and destroyed them and they never understood the concept of mortality and the simple yet deadly math that went with it.What is good here is that the Canadian health care system worked and worked very well. We can be all proud of that. And CanadianBullshit.com had it right from the start too. Unlike most of the press and some "experts" commenting on the pandemic. Ha!
Free Online Polls
World Health Organization - including latest information on the Swine Flu
Health Canada -the latest Canadian Government info on Swine Flu
Agriculture Canada -the latest info on pork etc.
Canadian Institute for Health Information
Information
-from a 2005 OECD Health Data report -How does Canada compare? Note that much of this information was from 2003
...
Resources in the health sector (human, physical, technological)
Despite the relatively high level of health expenditure in Canada, there are fewer physicians per capita
than in most other OECD countries. In 2003, Canada had 2.1 practicing physicians per 1 000 population,
well below the OECD average of 2.9. Between 1990 and 2003, the number of doctors per capita remained stable in Canada, while it continued to increase at least slightly in most OECD countries.
There were 9.8 nurses per 1 000 population in Canada in 2003, a higher figure than the average of 8.2 in OECD countries. However, the number of nurses per capita decreased in Canada since 1990, while it has increased in most other countries. The reduction in the number of nurses per capita over the past decade or so in Canada is linked to a reduction in enrolment and graduation from nursing schools, together with a reduction in the number of hospital beds.
The number of acute care hospital beds in Canada was 3.2 per 1 000 population in 2002, a higher number than in the United States (2.8 in 2003), but lower than the OECD average of 4.1 beds per 1 000 population.
As in most OECD countries, the number of hospital beds per capita in Canada has fallen over time.
We live in very challenging times and this truly unique approach to business shows how in real terms one can be successful. For example, there are reasons why a hard working ma and pa operation will always stay small and why it is just as hard to make a billion as is to make a million or even a hundred thousand. You have the same number of hours in the day but you need to do different things. We designed the book to be fun to read and trust us when you start reading it in a group at an airport, on the commuter train, in the Boardroom or even on a park bench people will take note. An excellent motivation for your managers and directors when everyone is getting discouraged. Your Very first Billion gives us all something to shoot for. It raises the bar and shows you how to join that rather exclusive club which presently has over 1100 Billionaires -46 of whom are resident in Canada and listed for you. This book will very likely be your best investment this year!
NorthTreasure.com -our unique collectable website with one of a kind items! Cool site and we designed it ourselves. You will find things here that you never thought existed. Things that you never knew you wanted. Items that nobody else has. Stuff that you can't live without. All reasonably priced too!
SuperiorWebs.com -high end snooty web design-hold onto your wallets but we have links to quite affordable alternatives too! I hesitate to use the word "cheap" but the fact is our custom build rates are so freaking high that we had to do something to help with the sticker shock. We can now offer automated template built websites that will get you up and running with minimum fuss and time for a less than $50. You can find those on our subsidiary website elitewebsitelayouts.com When you strike it rich and can afford more we will be lurking in the weeds waiting for you! ThanksForExplainingThat.com -read free published articles explaining popular topics. The articles are concise and readable and cover nearly all the subjects you are interested in. The idea is just in time knowledge. It makes sense. Want to learn how GPS works, how to grow hair, how to diet or cook or write or whatever? Its all here. Try it out! Soon you will be so smart nobody will be able to put up with you! Maybe your Mom... YourTimeHere.info Discount name brand watches -why pay more? Why run all over town wasting gas when you can order here and get what you want at the price you want. Its a no brainer (to visit the site!) Your local retailer can afford to stock a couple of dozen watches we have a few thousand. Hello! Velvet Deer Antler We try our best to have a selection of very interesting products for you and here is a good example! Some may ask why on earth would I want to ingest powdered deer antler from New Zealand? Why indeed and you can find out here!
GENERALDUCK.COM our massive army surplus site that changes minute by minute with jeeps, humvees, army gear, military collectables and interesting stuff available now at a fraction of what the govt paid for it! There is some nice stuff here! You can have a lot of fun just looking at it but even more fun playing with it. And remember military stuff is built to last not like the cheap junk you buy at wal-mart from China. AlienUFO.Info Some people believe in them some don't. Are we being watched? Now?? Are we the only life forms in the entire Universe? Like that would happen eh? Another one of our fun sites to enlighten and entertain! You need to take a break from the serious stuff every once in a while and here is your chance.
GreatCanadianStamps.com I have enjoyed collecting stamps for many years. So it seemed natural to start a stamp business as the first rule of business is to do something you enjoy. We offer good sized lots of quality Canadian stamps so that you save money on shipping and receive a better value. We also include links to some of the largest suppliers of Canadian stamps and online auctions happening now were you set the price. What a great way of investing some time and energy. Your collection will grow and traditionally stamp values have increased over time. Stamps make great gifts and are wonderful legacies for the next generation. They don't take up much room and you can collect a few or a lot. Stamp collecting is a very enjoyable hobby for young and old alike. Addiction-Tips.com After completing our pages on alcoholism, drug use and obesity we were very interested in helping out people with addiction problems be it drugs, alcohol, shopping, food, gambling, sex or even internet addiction. So we purchased an entire website with great information and links to provide you with greater detail than we can provide here. Good Luck! You can do it! I did it with food and alcohol and if I can you can too! YourPhoneNow.info We got so ticked off with cell phones that we bought a cell phone website that offers great prices and deals. Shop around and save some money. Or go to the mall and get ripped off by a merchant who must cover his outrageous mall square footage rental rates. This is an industry where everyone seems to be screwing the customer. Not us. Ha! We provide a website where the suppliers really need to work for your business. Check them out!
JogaDogDay.com! Do you love dogs? So do we so we bought a dog website with free information and tons of stuff for dogs at great prices. Fido will love you for it and possibly not pee on your rug or chew on your new cell phone. Your doggie may save your life some day so its wise to treat the beast well. They are always glad to see you when nobody else is. Now why is that? Don't waste gas running all over town - all the doggie stuff you will ever need is here. Just add a dog -hold the fleas. (we have stuff for that!)
ElectronicsPlus.info We are surrounded by electronics so we purchased a huge electronics website that offers you just about everything you want or need at excellent prices. Its silly to pay more that you need to and depend on your local retailer to stock everything you might want. We offer a larger selection of electronics goods than Wal-mart and some people are wondering why. Check us out and save gas driving all over town just to find out they are out! We are in! ForexAdvice101.info Currencies are bouncing around like a yo yo these days and people are making a fist full of money off them. Here we show you the basics. The banks do it every day. You can do it too with just a couple of hundred dollars. We purchased this website to even the score and help the little guy out. And to save the planet. SelfDebtHelp.info Are you totally screwed with so much debt that there is no way you will ever get out of it. Did the nice banks give you so much credit that now they get all your pay check? Did the credit card companies give you a low intro rate and then boost your rate when you missed a payment? Sound familiar? So we purchased this website to help you become financially happy again. It could happen! It sure won't happen if you do nothing...All problems are really opportunities just waiting for your solution and we give you several.
Your Very First Billion How would you like to make a billion dollars? The facts are that you won't need to work any harder than making a million or a hundred thousand dollars. It's much easier than you might think. We show you the basics of business and what works and what doesn't . All in a reader friendly 420 page book we published in 2008. This is the most unique book ever published on business in Canada and applies just as well to anywhere else.
CanadaGooseTravel.com A Canada Goose is a big smart bird. They are smart enough to fly south for the winter rather than freeze in the snow with the rest of us. They do it without maps or a GPS and they don't get lost. We thought like a goose when we built this honking good site. The main idea is to save you money and help you have more fun when you travel. How smart is that! Check it out and start packing!
|
EarthSolarDesign.com 