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Alberta, Canadian federal gov’ts face lawsuits filed over ‘harm’ caused by COVID shots

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9 minute read

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

A law firm representing Albertans alleges in its filing that the vaccines were ‘deceptively’ promoted.

A law firm filed a class action lawsuit against the Alberta provincial government and the federal government on behalf of Albertans who were “harmed by the Covid-19 vaccines.”

“This legal action is centered around allegations of unlawful, negligent, inadequate, improper, unfair, and deceptive practices by the Defendants in relation to the warning, marketing, promotion, and distribution of the Covid Vaccines,” Alberta-based Rath & Company stated in a February 29 press release regarding the lawsuit, which was filed in the Court of King’s Bench in Lethbridge, Alberta.

“This proposed class action lawsuit seeks justice for individuals who have suffered physical and psychological injuries or death due to the alleged negligence and misconduct by the Defendants in respect of the Covid Vaccines. It aims to hold the Defendants accountable and obtain compensation for those adversely affected.”

According to the law firm, the lawsuit was filed individually last year by COVID jab-harmed Alberta resident Carrie Sakamoto, who is listed as the “class representative for the proposed class action lawsuit.” She sustained “severe, permanent physical and emotional injuries” from the COVID shots.

“The lawsuit claims that the Defendants (Alberta and Federal governments) were negligent, provided information they knew to be false and incomplete, and that they censored and suppressed truthful and reliable information about vaccine injuries thereby vitiating informed consent and causing harm to Ms. Sakamoto and many others in Alberta,” the Rath & Company press release noted.

“The lawsuit goes on to allege misfeasance in public office and conspiracy to commit assault and battery on the public.”

The remedies sought by the plaintiff include “general damages in an amount to be proven at trial” as well as “special and punitive damages in an amount to be proven at trial.”

Lead counsel Jeffrey Rath predicted that Canadians will be “shocked to learn about the rushed changes to safety standard for the Covid Vaccines which removed the requirement for the Covid Vaccines to be either ‘safe or effective’ while, at the same time, the Defendants promoted, distributed, and marketed the Covid Vaccines as ‘safe and effective’ to the public.”

Rath added that the federal and Alberta governments “didn’t stop there” when it came to the COVID shots, as “they went further by coercion the public to take the Covid Vaccines by stripping rights from them or providing financial incentives for taking the Covid Vaccines.”

The COVID shots were heavily promoted by the federal government as well as all provincial governments in Canada, with the Alberta government under former Premier Jason Kenney being no exception.

The mRNA shots themselves have been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects in children.

According to co-counsel Eva Chipiuk, the Defendants “held themselves out as public health experts and gave medical advice to the public at large,” but they “intentionally set out to build a relationship of trust between themselves and the public during the pandemic at a time when they knew the public was vulnerable and afraid.”

“They knew or ought to have known that the public would be relying on their information for their health, safety and protection,” she mentioned.

Under Kenney, Albertans were heavily coerced into taking the COVID shots through a mass marketing campaign and later a COVID jab passport. Many in the public and private sectors who did not get the jabs lost their jobs.

Danielle Smith took over from Kenney as leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) on October 11, 2022, after winning the leadership. Kenney was ousted due to low approval ratings and for reneging on promises not to lock Alberta down as well as enacting a vaccine passport.

Under Kenney, those who did not comply with jab mandates such as thousands of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare and government workers lost their jobs for choosing to not get the jabs, leading Smith to say – only minutes after being sworn in – that over the past year the “unvaccinated” were the “most discriminated against” group of people in her lifetime.

Adverse effects from the first round of COVID shots have resulted in a growing number of Canadians filing for financial compensation over injuries from the jabs via the federal Vaccine Injury Program (VISP).

VISP has already paid well over $11 million to those injured by COVID injections.

Earlier this year, LifeSiteNews reported on how officials from Health Canada have admitted that there is “residual plasmid DNA” in the COVID shots after a Conservative MP asked the agency through an official information request if the DNA fragments were in the shots.

The jabs also have connections to cell lines derived from aborted babies. As a result of this, many Catholics and other Christians refused to take them.

Lawsuit open to All COVID jab ‘impacted individuals in Alberta’

The Rath & Company class action lawsuit is open to all impacted “individuals in Alberta” who have been “injured or otherwise adversely affected by the Covid Vaccines.”

Those wanting to join the class action can click here.

Rath & Company noted that should the court grant permission for this action to proceed as a “Class Action” (also known as “Certification”), those involved “may qualify as a class member whether or not you have registered.”

“Millions of Canadians relied on the representations of the Defendants at a time when they were particularly vulnerable. We now know that many Canadians suffered physical and psychological injuries due to the misinformation and negligence of the Defendants,” Rath & Company stated.

This is the second large class action prepared by Rath & Company in recent weeks concerning COVID jabs and mandates in Alberta.

Last month, LifeSiteNews reported that a law firm is in the process of putting together a class-action lawsuit against the Alberta government on behalf of many business owners in the province who faced massive losses or permanent closures from what it says were “illegal” COVID public health orders enacted by provincial officials.

COVID vaccine mandates, which came from provincial governments with the support of Trudeau’s federal government, split Canadian society.

Despite the health risks associated with the COVID shots, governments across Canada all enacted strict rules, including workplace jab mandates.

Under Kenney, thousands of businesses, notably restaurants and small shops, were negatively impacted by severe COVID restrictions, mostly in 2020-21, that forced them to close for a time. Many never reopened. At the same time, as in the rest of Canada, big box stores were allowed to operate unimpeded.

The Rath & Company class action is just one of many that have been filed by Canadians who chose not to get the shots, then lost their job, and want to fight back.

Late last year, LifeSiteNews reported that over 700 vaccine-free Canadians negatively affected by federal COVID jab dictates banded together to file a multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the federal government of Trudeau.

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Alberta

Low oil prices could have big consequences for Alberta’s finances

Published on

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

Amid the tariff war, the price of West Texas Intermediate oil—a common benchmark—recently dropped below US$60 per barrel. Given every $1 drop in oil prices is an estimated $750 million hit to provincial revenues, if oil prices remain low for long, there could be big implications for Alberta’s budget.

The Smith government already projects a $5.2 billion budget deficit in 2025/26 with continued deficits over the following two years. This year’s deficit is based on oil prices averaging US$68.00 per barrel. While the budget does include a $4 billion “contingency” for unforeseen events, given the economic and fiscal impact of Trump’s tariffs, it could quickly be eaten up.

Budget deficits come with costs for Albertans, who will already pay a projected $600 each in provincial government debt interest in 2025/26. That’s money that could have gone towards health care and education, or even tax relief.

Unfortunately, this is all part of the resource revenue rollercoaster that’s are all too familiar to Albertans.

Resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) is inherently volatile. In the last 10 years alone, it has been as high as $25.2 billion in 2022/23 and as low as $2.8 billion in 2015/16. The provincial government typically enjoys budget surpluses—and increases government spending—when oil prices and resource revenue is relatively high, but is thrown into deficits when resource revenues inevitably fall.

Fortunately, the Smith government can mitigate this volatility.

The key is limiting the level of resource revenue included in the budget to a set stable amount. Any resource revenue above that stable amount is automatically saved in a rainy-day fund to be withdrawn to maintain that stable amount in the budget during years of relatively low resource revenue. The logic is simple: save during the good times so you can weather the storm during bad times.

Indeed, if the Smith government had created a rainy-day account in 2023, for example, it could have already built up a sizeable fund to help stabilize the budget when resource revenue declines. While the Smith government has deposited some money in the Heritage Fund in recent years, it has not created a dedicated rainy-day account or introduced a similar mechanism to help stabilize provincial finances.

Limiting the amount of resource revenue in the budget, particularly during times of relatively high resource revenue, also tempers demand for higher spending, which is only fiscally sustainable with permanently high resource revenues. In other words, if the government creates a rainy-day account, spending would become more closely align with stable ongoing levels of revenue.

And it’s not too late. To end the boom-bust cycle and finally help stabilize provincial finances, the Smith government should create a rainy-day account.

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Alberta

Governments in Alberta should spur homebuilding amid population explosion

Published on

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill and Austin Thompson

In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Alberta has long been viewed as an oasis in Canada’s overheated housing market—a refuge for Canadians priced out of high-cost centres such as Vancouver and Toronto. But the oasis is starting to dry up. House prices and rents in the province have spiked by about one-third since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent Maru poll, more than 70 per cent of Calgarians and Edmontonians doubt they will ever be able to afford a home in their city. Which raises the question: how much longer can this go on?

Alberta’s housing affordability problem reflects a simple reality—not enough homes have been built to accommodate the province’s growing population. The result? More Albertans competing for the same homes and rental units, pushing prices higher.

Population growth has always been volatile in Alberta, but the recent surge, fuelled by record levels of immigration, is unprecedented. Alberta has set new population growth records every year since 2022, culminating in the largest-ever increase of 186,704 new residents in 2024—nearly 70 per cent more than the largest pre-pandemic increase in 2013.

Homebuilding has increased, but not enough to keep pace with the rise in population. In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Moreover, from 1972 to 2019, Alberta added 2.1 new residents (on average) for every housing unit started compared to 3.9 new residents for every housing unit started in 2024. Put differently, today nearly twice as many new residents are potentially competing for each new home compared to historical norms.

While Alberta attracts more Canadians from other provinces than any other province, federal immigration and residency policies drive Alberta’s population growth. So while the provincial government has little control over its population growth, provincial and municipal governments can affect the pace of homebuilding.

For example, recent provincial amendments to the city charters in Calgary and Edmonton have helped standardize building codes, which should minimize cost and complexity for builders who operate across different jurisdictions. Municipal zoning reforms in CalgaryEdmonton and Red Deer have made it easier to build higher-density housing, and Lethbridge and Medicine Hat may soon follow suit. These changes should make it easier and faster to build homes, helping Alberta maintain some of the least restrictive building rules and quickest approval timelines in Canada.

There is, however, room for improvement. Policymakers at both the provincial and municipal level should streamline rules for building, reduce regulatory uncertainty and development costs, and shorten timelines for permit approvals. Calgary, for instance, imposes fees on developers to fund a wide array of public infrastructure—including roads, sewers, libraries, even buses—while Edmonton currently only imposes fees to fund the construction of new firehalls.

It’s difficult to say how long Alberta’s housing affordability woes will endure, but the situation is unlikely to improve unless homebuilding increases, spurred by government policies that facilitate more development.

Tegan Hill

Director, Alberta Policy, Fraser Institute

Austin Thompson

Senior Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute
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