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Ziad 😷 Fazel 🇨🇦🇺🇦 Profile picture
@ZiadFazel
Oct 30, 2024 • 55 tweets • 25 min read • Read on X
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When I finally got my hands on $80m Danielle Smith/MHCare Medical boondoggle children's acetaminophen, I weighed & measured it.

Thanks to glass bottle: 291 grams

250,000 bottles = 73 tons!

Smith's decision to airlift that to Alberta in Jan 2023 is case study in bad ethics.

🧵 Image
@TheBreakdownAB @LukaszukAB @JMeddings @PfParks The whole boondoggle is enough to kick out a gov and bring in Auditor General.

But Smith's decision to manufacture AND airlift these 250,000 bottles – without a child safety cap (!) – shows the worst of it in one incident.

Shameless Smith made an expensive PR stunt about it.
GoA admitted that the package design they + MHCare submitted for Health Canada approval did not have child resistant cap required by law since at least 2006.

But Smith decided to:
• manufacture 250,000 deficient bottles anyway
• AIRLIFT them here

alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI…Image
On 18 Jan 2023, GoA even published this Flickr Album of 50 photos, including Health Min Jason Copping, Deputy Premier Nathan Neudorf, and the CEO of Edmonton International Airport, Myron Keehn.

Who's not there? Sam Mraiche or anyone from MHCare Medical.

flickr.com/photos/alberta…Photo of plane landing around 4pm on 18 Jan 2023
Photo of Neudorf, Copping and airport CEO watching plane pull up to cargo unloading area
Photo of Neudorf, Copping and airport CEO standing inside plane, in front of several pallets of product wrapped in plastic and cargo nets, and strapped won.
Photo of Neudorf, Copping and airport CEO standing in front of plane as it is unloaded.
Let's focus on the airlift.

The plane is a Boeing 747-400BCF, where BCF stands for "Boeing Converted Freighter" from passenger plane.

250K bottles alone, without pallets and packaging, is about 73 tons.

The maximum payload of this plane is 108 tons.

nationalairlines.com/our-fleet/
But when Smith & Copping made their splashy announcement on 6 Dec 2022, they said Alberta would get 5m bottles in 10 shipments of 500K bottles each.

500K bottles would weigh 146 tons, which is over the maximum payload of even National's largest plane.

alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI…
My bachelor's degree is in Industrial Systems Engineering, and I have a background in new product development, manufacturing, and procurement.

When I see politicians throw around numbers like 5 million bottles, or even 250K bottles, I know they're making stupid promises.
500K bottles is too much for a single airlift, so Smith & Copping decided instead to get 250K bottles, charter an entire 747, and pretend they were solving an AHS crisis by airlifting 73 tons of pharmaceutical in glass bottles to Edmonton.

But it's for the children, right?
Children are starving to death around the world, running out of even Ready-to-use-Therapeutic-Food (RUTF).

RUTF packages are 100 grams each. So Alberta's chartered 747 could have carried 73 tons, or 730,000 packages of food to help those kids survive.

unicef.org/press-releases…
Instead of starving children, Smith instead threw our money around to TAKE 250K bottles of acetaminophen FROM the developing world, and hoard the inventory at AHS, which already had adequate stock.

Mauro Chies said so, as clearly as an AHS CEO can tell a "You're fired" Premier. “AHS is grateful for this supply, which provides assurance, long-term, for our stock of acetaminophen in AHS facilities. As drug shortages continue to occur globally, substantial supply of routine medicines is a proactive step that will help our ability to deliver care. We are grateful to all the teams that have helped secure this additional medication.” Mauro Chies, interim president and CEO, Alberta Health Services
How can I prove AHS did not need the meds?

See @alanna_smithh Oct 2023 report. AHS only distributed 9000 bottles internally, before ordering staff in July 2023 not to use it.

If AHS were in crisis needing this airlift, they'd be using 9000 bottles/WEEK.

theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta…
Thanks @LukaszukAB for the subtle correction.

I was incorrectly writing "tons".

But I am actually using "tonnes" which is 1,000 kg.

The airplane payload is in "metric tons" which is American for "tonnes".

Sorry, that skewed my spelling, not my math.

Image
While I am – and hopefully some of you are – double-checking my math:

The $80m boondoggle package is 14 cm high, 6 cm wide, and 6 cm deep. That's 504 cubic centimetres, for 0.000504 m^3 in SI units.

250,000 would take about ~126 m^3 in volume.

Time for Unit Load Device (ULD) My photo of Parol box on scale, showing 291 grams.
ULD pallets are standardized carriers for air freight, which work with the cargo handing equipment so you don't drive forklifts in an airplane, and allow you to secure the load.

You can see the 3 Amigos standing on those cargo handling rails and bearings in the photos. Photo of packaged, secured ULD pallet in plane.
Partial overhead photo of 3 Amigos standing in front of several ULD pallets on plane.
Photo of 3 Amigos standing in front of loaded pallets
Closeup photo of loaded ULD pallet on the airport's ground-level material handling equipment.
Now, I don't know which ULD pallet Atabay used for the air freight, but let's guess something like about 7.5 m~2 of usable area, loaded to ~1.5 m high.

So maybe 11.25 m^3 of volume per pallet?

So 126 m~3 of meds would take 11 to 12 pallets?

nationalairlines.com/our-fleet/Screenshot from National website showing the type of ULD pallet compatible with the plane, and the configuration of the main deck, and maximum of each type of pallet possible on the plane.
@LukaszukAB Why am I trying to estimate these dimensions?

To price airlift from Istanbul to Edmonton:
• 73 tonnes on 12 pallets x 6.1 tonnes each
• each pallet 3 m x 2.5m x 1.5 m high
• about 9000 km as crow flies
• just over 16 hours non-stop flying?

Anyone in this industry know?
For reference, bookmark @alanna_smithh excellent report.

AHS admitted they spent $4m on shipping. But Copping had repeatedly said the $70m for 5m bottles = $14/bottle was a LANDED cost.

ie including shipping.

So the $4m was just for that one airlift?

theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta…“They talk about 100-year storms, this is one of those things,” he said in an interview. Mr. Williamson said in a statement that $70-million was paid upfront to Atabay for product and approximately $4-million has been spent on freight and distribution costs. Government officials estimated in March that the deal would cost Alberta taxpayers a total of $80-million.
Yes, you read that right:

$70m was paid UP FRONT to "Atabay". But I think this is the pattern of GoA deception, hiding the involvement of MHCare Medical.

I believe the $70m was paid to MHCare Medical. I'm guessing Atabay is choked about how little of that $70m they got. "Mr. Williamson said in a statement that $70-million was paid upfront to Atabay for product and approximately $4-million has been spent on freight and distribution costs. Government officials estimated in March that the deal would cost Alberta taxpayers a total of $80-million."
I've heard from someone with federal procurement experience, who can't believe Alberta paid $70m UP FRONT, saying it should be paid based on progress of goods of acceptable quality, etc received.

Yup. This whole $70m contract stinks.

Tonight, I focus just on that one airlift. Except from federal procurement manual, starting with "Monitor the contractor's performance" and
Excerpt from federal procurement manual, explaining Certification where before payment is made, a chain of accountability is required to ensure the goods have been supplied, the terms and conditions of the contract have been met, etc.
While I singled out Alanna Smith for her work, there are several investigative reporters doing excellent work on this boondoggle. I hear their questions at press conferences, and find their work when I back up my threads.

Please feel free to secretly tip your favourite.
I remember trying to figure out how Smith and Copping had already spent $15.8m by 31 March 2023.

It is hard to figure this out when a government is actively lying to you. @pancholi_rakhi did a great job in limited time to drill into budget estimates.

@pancholi_rakhi Let's try this again.

$3.5m for 250K bottles no child-resistant caps
$3.5m for 250K bottles for retail
$4m airlift faster than $14 standard shipping
$4.8m secure disposal/other?
-----
$15.8m

Was there a 250K risk buy without Health Canada at $3.5m, plus secure disposal $1.3m?
Enough on airlift for now.

Let's get into why Smith decided to get 250K bottles manufactured WITHOUT child-resistant caps at all.

From the outset, Smith claimed all 5m bottles were intended for retail, in pharmacies, with full Health Canada approval.

alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI…"Alberta’s government and Alberta Health Services are working with Health Canada on completing the drug establishment licensing approval process. Once the approval is granted, the medication will be delivered to Alberta over 10 air shipments. As soon as the medication arrives in the province, it will be distributed to community and retail pharmacies so that parents and caregivers can purchase it for their children. Because Alberta’s government has secured so many bottles of the pain and fever medication, it is expected that Albertans will be able to find it on pharmacy shelves in the s...
"Alberta’s government and Alberta Health Services are working with Health Canada on COMPLETING the drug establishment licensing approval process."

[emphasis mine]

So why even manufacture children's acetaminophen without a child safety cap?

Blaming Health Canada is false.
I remember Smith testily giving false information to a reporter:
• Alberta always intended for the first batch to go to AHS
• Alberta was not rejected or blocked by Health Canada for a product design that failed to include the child-resistant cap

pressreader.com/canada/calgary…
Notice GoA's deception saying "the manufacturer" instead of the importer, MHCare Medical?

Atabay is only a Foreign Building (FB) Site in MHCare Medical's application for a Drug Establishment License.

Health Canada regulates that Canadian Importer.

drug-inspections.canada.ca/gmp/inspection…Image
Image
Image
It is GoA + MHCare Medical's shared incompetence that delayed the manufacture of bottles with child-resistant caps, not Health Canada.

They submitted a complete design for approval AFTER 30 Dec 2022.

Health Canada approved that on 26 Jan 2023.

canada.ca/en/health-cana…Image
So instead of waiting until January for Health Canada to approve their resubmission of a complete design for approval.

Smith decided to intentionally manufacture deficient bottles without child-safety caps:
• unusable outside hospitals in Alberta
• risk of harm to kids "In order to receive Health Canada approval, the manufacturer was required to submit a proposal outlining information on the medicine’s quality, safety and product packaging. Health Canada reviewed the proposal and requested additional information as well as a number of changes to meet Canada’s regulatory requirements. One of these changes was the need to add child-resistant caps to the bottles for the retail use supply. In the interim, an initial shipment was approved for hospital use only, as child-resistant caps are not a regulatory requirement when medicine is administered by medi...
Instead of using lawyers as they are supposed to be used, to make products safer and more valuable WITH regulatory approval, Smith used them to find loopholes to manufacture WITHOUT APPROVAL.

She does that a lot, IMO.

MHCare Medical didn't care- they got $70m up front.
Of course I thought of you two as I did this section.
@sameo416 @dparkinson45
Smith blames "Ottawa" a lot for her failures too.

Smith dishonestly pretends Health Canada did not advise GoA that child-resistant caps were needed until AFTER GoA/MHCare Medical had submitted their application to import their design without caps.

alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI…"“This is a great first step and I am so pleased that we have been able to secure additional children’s medicine for our hospitals. But we cannot and will not rest with this first shipment. We need approval of the rest of the medication so parents can use them at home. We're in the midst of an exceptionally difficult winter, made more stressful for parents by the shortage of basic medications. Kids and families are waiting for these medications and we need Health Canada to approve them without further delay.” Danielle Smith, Premier"
"In order to receive Health Canada approval, the manufacturer was required to submit a proposal outlining information on the medicine’s quality, safety and product packaging. Health Canada reviewed the proposal and requested additional information as well as a number of changes to meet Canada’s regulatory requirements. One of these changes was the need to add child-resistant caps to the bottles for the retail use supply."
"The final requirement for child-proof caps has been addressed and the manufacturer has provided all information requested by Health Canada. Alberta’s government is now awaiting Health Canada’s approval of the remaining 4.75 million bottles for retail sale across the province, as are Alberta parents and guardians."
First, as I reminded Minister Copping directly on 2 Feb 2023, child resistant caps are required by law since at least 2006.

MHCare Medical got paid $70m for this. Alberta Health was "helping".

Not Health Canada's job to design your product for you.

Second, Health Canada even prepared a guideline in Sep 2016 specifically for acetaminophen "to assist in preparing drug submissions when seeking an approval to sell a pharmaceutical drug product in Canada."

How negligent to ignore something this clear?!

canada.ca/en/health-cana…Screenshot of list of "Guidance Documents – Applications and submissions – Drug products" from Health Canada
Table of Contents for Acetaminophen Guidance Document
"For children's use only products: the drug is to be packaged in a child resistant container. C.01.031(a)(i);"
@TheBreakdownAB @JMeddings @LukaszukAB Third, Smith & Copping said in 6 Dec 2022 announcement they were already working closely w Health Canada + Alberta Pharmacists to meet Canadian requirements.

And again, MHCare Medical was paid $70m to do what they laughably still claim on their website.

mhcaremedical.comPRODUCT CUSTOMIZATION Our vast network of local and international manufacturers allows us to modify products to meet your specific requirements, while maintaining compliance with current health standards.
@TheBreakdownAB @JMeddings @LukaszukAB For those that think Smith wasn't involved enough in the details (so may have been duped by Copping) that is not what she demonstrated - and explicitly said - in this testy, dishonest exchange 10 Jan 2023.

Ironically, this presser was "to be more open".

youtube.com/live/fCOg4iTFK…
@TheBreakdownAB @JMeddings @LukaszukAB In that presser, Smith repeatedly denied, in the face of all evidence, that Health Canada had rejected GoA's plan to distribute the meds to pharmacies without child-resistant caps.

Madeline Smith (and others) already had statements from Health Canada.

pressreader.com/canada/calgary…
@TheBreakdownAB @JMeddings @LukaszukAB Let's go back to 22 Dec 2022, when Copping's answers revealed stupid, wasteful and unsafe decisions GoA was making in December:
• after GoA's initial overpromising announcement
• before Health Canada approved only in-hospital use on 30 Dec 2022

youtube.com/live/DeYlqLqMc…
@TheBreakdownAB @JMeddings @LukaszukAB To @alanna_smithh, Copping said GoA was investigating bringing into Alberta the first 500K shipment "pending Health Canada approval".

ie. knowingly manufacturing + airlifting unsafe acetaminophen without child-resistant caps, while pressuring Health Canada to back down.
@TheBreakdownAB @JMeddings @LukaszukAB @alanna_smithh When @Jantafrench pressed Copping on specifics about obstacles to regulatory approval, Copping did not mention child-resistant caps.

Massive deception.

Only labelling, and the Drug Establishment Licensing for foreign building Atabay and their secret importer MHCare Medical.
Looking back over the evidence, it appears Smith authorized:
• manufacture of 500K bottles without child resistant caps or Health Canada Approval
• airlift of 250K bottles
• safe disposal of 250K bottles in Turkey

Maybe @pancholi_rakhi @shoffmanAB can ask Smith in #ableg?
@pancholi_rakhi @shoffmanAB By her own 6 Dec 2022 PR, Smith also approved AIRLIFT FOR ALL 10 shipments of 500K bottles each!

500K is than one 747, so the shipments dropped to 250K each.

Huge waste of taxpayer dollars when $14/bottle to MHCare was landed cost (by ship likely).

alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI…"Alberta’s government and Alberta Health Services are working with Health Canada on completing the drug establishment licensing approval process. Once the approval is granted, the medication will be delivered to Alberta over 10 air shipments. As soon as the medication arrives in the province, it will be distributed to community and retail pharmacies so that parents and caregivers can purchase it for their children. Because Alberta’s government has secured so many bottles of the pain and fever medication, it is expected that Albertans will be able to find it on pharmacy shelves in the s...
Ominous suggestion 👇it was likely MHCare Medical who got paid for the airlifts too. They tout that expertise, and AB Health loves to sole-source from them.

Maybe @pancholi_rakhi @shoffmanAB can ask Smith or LaGrange about this too?

Screenshot of main banner from MHCare Medical website showing "KEEPING NORTH AMERICA SAFE SINCE APRIL 2020, WE HAVE CHARTERED 80 FULL SIZE CARGO PLANES FROM 3 CONTINENTS"
Another banner: "WE SHIPPED AND RECEIVED 1200 CONTAINERS BY SEA" which is likely the means of intercontinental transport baked into the $14/bottle landed price
Another banner: "WE'VE UTILIZED 1900 TRUCKS TO MOVE 50,000 PALLETS OF EQUIPMENT" which is likely the ground transport in Turkey and North America baked into the $14/bottle landed price.
March 2023 shipment with first 250K bottles for retail was likely airlifted too.

Maybe MHCare Medical is contractually guaranteed that. Maybe Smith just wanted good PR ASAP.

Those were manufactured Feb 2023, and arrived in time for this 20 March 2023.

globalnews.ca/news/9565704/a…
In Nov/Dec 2022, Smith used GoA lawyers to find a loophole to the legal safety requirement for child-resistant caps on children's acetaminophen.

Just like in Nov/Dec 2022, Smith used GoA lawyers to find loopholes to gut the Conflict of Interest Act.

edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/…
Smith pretends the main reason for Food & Drugs Act is hospital use, and that retail use is some secret higher level where requirement for child-resistant caps is hidden.

False. The focus of the Act is unsafe Sales & Advertising of Drugs.

canlii.org/en/ca/laws/sta…
Here's the loophole I think Smith used:

"no person shall sell.."

Therefore Smith dumped it internally on AHS hospitals, protecting the importer MHCare Medical, and Health Canada imposed a Risk Management Plan.

@Lorian_H @UbakaOgbogu @NdbYyc1305

canlii.org/en/ca/laws/reg…"C.01.031 (1) Subject to section C.01.031.2, (a) no person shall sell a drug described in subsection C.01.029(1) unless (i) where the drug is recommended solely for children, it is packaged in a child resistant package, (ii) where the drug is not recommended solely for children, other than a drug referred to in subparagraph (iii), at least one of the sizes of packages available for sale is packaged in a child resistant package, and (iii) where the drug is a vaping product referred to in paragraph C.01.029(1)(a.1), it is packaged in a child resistant package; and (b) where a drug d...
Excerpt from https://www.pressreader.com/canada/calgary-herald/20230120/281621014455795 which reads "“In the interim, an initial shipment was approved for hospital use only, as child-resistant caps are not a regulatory requirement when medicine is administered by medical profes- sionals in a hospital,” the government said. “As a result, rather than wait for the total shipment, Alberta's government opted to receive a first shipment with medicines for hos- pital use.” A Health Canada statement provided to Postmedia earlier this month said it received a pro- posal from the importer “spec...
@Lorian_H @UbakaOgbogu @NdbYyc1305 @TheBreakdownAB @LukaszukAB @Mark_Ungrin @PfParks @gilmcgowan Dumping it "internally" on AHS Hospitals = forcing pharmacists & nurses to manage the risk of wrong concentration, no child-resistant cap, and crap labelling without Health Canada approval.

But "internally" means risk of harm to our children.

pressreader.com/canada/calgary… "“In the interim, an initial shipment was approved for hospital use only, as child-resistant caps are not a regulatory requirement when medicine is administered by medical profes- sionals in a hospital,” the government said. “As a result, rather than wait for the total shipment, Alberta's government opted to receive a first shipment with medicines for hos- pital use.” A Health Canada statement provided to Postmedia earlier this month said it received a pro- posal from the importer “specific to hospital use” in late December, and subsequently gave the go-ahead. “When foreign product is ...
@Lorian_H @UbakaOgbogu @NdbYyc1305 @TheBreakdownAB @LukaszukAB @Mark_Ungrin @PfParks @gilmcgowan @GosiaGasperoPhD Even though only 9000 bottles from that unethical shipment of 250K were distributed within hospitals, that 3.6% still managed to put infants at risk.

Thankfully, because this purchase was completely unnecessary, more bottles had not been distributed.

edmonton.ctvnews.ca/imported-pain-…
@Lorian_H @UbakaOgbogu @NdbYyc1305 @TheBreakdownAB @LukaszukAB @Mark_Ungrin @PfParks @gilmcgowan @GosiaGasperoPhD The "clarification" from AHS:
• tries to minimize "adverse event" by "adverse reaction" examples first
• "Technically..."
• "Instances where product packaging and labeling can be misapprehended can also qualify as an adverse event." ie Dosing Error

albertahealthservices.ca/news/Page17971…
I would LOVE to get one of the original products dumped on AHS. Safely dispose of all liquid inside first - I just need empty bottle, package, and any insert or dosing device.

Be happy to review it.

Would also love to see the Risk Management Plan Health Canada imposed on AHS.
@threadreaderapp please unroll all the tweets in this thread hopefully going back to 29 October, and continuing through tonight.

I think I'm done.
Think about this from Atabay perspective:
• Alberta government + their shady importer demand 500K bottles NOW
• Neither of them know Canada's regulatory requirements
• Rich Canadians deprive developing world during global shortage Dec 2022
• then force dump of 250K bottles
How vested is Smith in this $80m boondoggle?
• Snit when @Jantafrench asks legitimate questions at presser purportedly to prevent kids hospital overload
• What about PREVENTION? We're getting OTC meds
• Where's CMOH advice? He's not part of this deal

And for those wondering where Copping ended up after losing Calgary Varsity in May 2023?
• Not in Law Society directory
• He's a Special Advisor at Blue Rock Law, like Steve Allan
• "Boutique" founded in 2023; Doug Schweitzer one of the co-founders

bluerocklaw.com/about
Unspent balance of $70m contract paid up front is $49.4m, ~ 3.5m of 5m bottles.

Alberta Health keeps hiding middleman MHCare Medical, by saying it is with 🇹🇷manufacturer.

I checked Drug Product Database tonight: no pending applications.

Refund time.

theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta…"The provincial government has said it is working with the Turkish manufacturer to “explore options” to fulfill the remainder of the contract, but has repeatedly declined to provide additional details. However, in the e-mail from Mr. Van Dyne to Ms. Williams, he said they are hoping to fulfill the remainder of the contract – equivalent to $49.4-million – through the purchase of intravenous, or IV, acetaminophen. “Our understanding is that Atabay is in the process of requesting approval from Health Canada but the process could take 6-12 months so we have not received any of the substit...
"It was only possible for Alberta to bring in some of the Atabay acetaminophen and ibuprofen because the country was facing an unprecedented shortage in these pediatric medications. The province had to go through Health Canada’s established approval process for foreign medications to ensure compliance with Canada’s safety, quality and efficacy requirements. Part of the delay in getting the drugs to Alberta was ensuring that childproof caps and labelling conformed to Health Canada standards. Now that the shortage has been resolved, and another critical shortfall isn’t expected any time...

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This @NewsHour story too new to have transcript as well as published video interview with Dr @jasonmnagata but here's his website for his research:

ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/providers/dr-j…

@tylerblack32 @TheBreakdownAB @KmarkovCTV @picardonhealth @JenLeeCBC @MurrayManera @JSJamato @gabefabreau x.com/NewsHour/statu…
Didn't have room for @TehseenLadha @orlaghokelly @John1MD @dupuisj @vettergreenart
@TehseenLadha @orlaghokelly @John1MD @dupuisj @vettergreenart @threadreaderapp unroll please

The transcript is up now at:



@tylerblack32 @TheBreakdownAB @KmarkovCTV @picardonhealth @JenLeeCBC @MurrayManera @JSJamato @gabefabreau @drDavidKeegan @amandalhu @CalgarysChild @MarciaOnTheGo pbs.org/newshour/show/…Ali Rogin: Dr. Nagata, thank you so much for joining us. Social media children, lots of questions, few answers. What did your study find? Jason Nagata: We followed 12,000 preteens over three years and we actually found big rises in social media use. So during that period, social media on average increased from seven minutes a day to over 70 minutes a day. So a tenfold increase. And in our analysis, we actually found that rises in social media from year to year among these 9 then 10 then 11-year olds were actually associated with future depressive symptoms in the following year. So I thin...
Ali Rogin: So what you're saying is that you found the correlation here to be with social media use leading to more depressive symptoms, not the other way around. You're saying that depression doesn't necessarily indicate use of social media? Jason Nagata: Yes. In our study, were able to follow these same 12,000 kids year to year. So were able to look at both their depression and their social media use every single year. And so we could look at patterns in their use. And we found that those kids who had big spikes in their social media use from year to year then subsequently had bigger sp...
Ali Rogin: And talk to us about the size and the scope of this study. This sounds massive. How did you track this many children and has that been done before? Jason Nagata: So, yeah, the data comes from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. It is a national study that follows these 12,000 kids from over 21 different states, study sites across the U.S. and it's funded by the National Institutes of Health and is I think one of the largest studies on child development and social media and brain health ever.
Ali Rogin: That's such a fascinating ancillary piece of information that you found in looking at this data. I do want to ask though, what is your advice for parents with the understanding that this data brings us to. Jason Nagata: Yeah, we actually looked at parent actions for rules and monitoring in the study and we actually found that the biggest predictors of kids screen use was actually their parents screen use. And as a new parent I think it's really important to practice what you preach. So if you're going to tell your kids to put down their phones to important that you role model g...
Read 4 tweets
Ziad 😷 Fazel 🇨🇦🇺🇦 Profile picture
May 8
🧵 Alberta's Reigning Queen of deceptive cherry-picked public health stats, Health Min LaGrange, was back at it Monday, this time over measles immunization.

Bonus Topic: Where is the source for the widespread claim that airborne measles is only infectious up to two (2) hours? Screenshot from Goa 5 May 2025 press release, where Health Min LaGrange made the same claim in the YouTube press conference: [below is the quote verbatim, but I would put sarcastic quotes around "facts"] "Quick facts • Currently, appointments in the central zone are available within one day, while in the south zone appointments are available usually within one to two days. • Following increased efforts to educate Albertans on measles and the importance of immunization, there has been a significant rise in immunizations across the province. Since March 16, there has been a 67...
Excerpt from GoA lengthy web page on measles "How measles spreads Measles is an extremely contagious disease, spread easily through the air. You do not need to be in direct contact with someone who is infected. You can get measles just by passing through a room or location where a person who is infected was up to 2 hours before. The person who is infected does not still need to be there to put you at risk of disease. Measles can also be spread through coughing, sneezing, yelling, singing and breathing."
@TheBreakdownAB @JMeddings @PfParks @LukaszukAB @JenLeeCBC @GosiaGasperoPhD @Mark_Ungrin @dupuisj @DrFiliatrault @TimmCTV Let me provide the links for the above two graphics:

• cherry-picked measles immunization stats

alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI…

• purported 2-hour limit on infectious airborne measles

alberta.ca/measles
@TheBreakdownAB @JMeddings @PfParks @LukaszukAB @JenLeeCBC @GosiaGasperoPhD @Mark_Ungrin @dupuisj @DrFiliatrault @TimmCTV On the deceptive, cherry-picked measles immunization stats, LaGrange said "Since March 16, there has been a 67% increase in comparison to last year."

Let's look at actual graphs & data tables.

alberta.ca/measles#jumpli… "Figure 2a. Measles containing immunization doses administered by week and geography, 2023-2025 for Alberta" showing the 2025 line does not cross over 2023 and 2024 lines until 16 March 2025. Prior to that, 2025 was well below both 2024 and 2023.
Closeup of graph, showing the yellow 2025 line does not cross over black 2023 and red 2024 lines until 16 March 2025. Prior to that, 2025 was well below both 2024 and 2023.
Closeup of graph, highlighting the yellow 2025 line to show better that it does not cross over black 2023 and red 2024 lines until 16 March 2025. Prior to that, 2025 was well below both 2024 and 2023.
Data table for GoA's graph, showing the actual numbers of measles immunization shots per week in those 3 years.
Read 42 tweets
Ziad 😷 Fazel 🇨🇦🇺🇦 Profile picture
Apr 24
I was just treated TERRIBLY by @HyattCalgary. Manager just denied me service in restaurant for some vague reasons behind:

“None of the staff are comfortable with you and want to serve you.”

Huh? You just lost polite, loyal 20% tip customer. Maybe my friends too.

See you never.
The VP who oversees the restaurant was not on, but I left my business card.

My @Hyatt loyalty card, which shows zero as it has not updated for my purchases since February, when my car died, and I found walking there convenient. High prices, but matching food & service (!) Image
@Hyatt Now, I don’t care about my points, as I will never visit @HyattCalgary again, for any reason.

I won’t spend much time with the VP if he or she calls me. This is their problem to solve, not mine. I’ll get nothing from it either way - I’m gone.
Read 4 tweets

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