SARS kills 44. In a related story, Canada’s burgeoning baby boomer demographic, suffers a mid life crisis en masse during a nationally televised SARS benefit concert outside Toronto when the Rolling Stones and a host of other geriatric bands from the 60’s add more than a few new “wrinkles” to rock and roll by strutting their stuff in spandex and loud pink).
$2 billion is lost when one mad cow kills 700,000 cattle (after the Canadian government authorizes the destruction of 10% of the Canadian herd). Later, one mad cow in the U.S. causes 220 million fingers to point north.
British Columbia spends $500 million to fight 825 forest fires that resulted in the evacuation of 50,000 residents and at least $250 million dollars in insurable property damage. Showing that she had a sense of humor, and proving that you should be careful what you pray for, Mother Nature followed up with monsoon rainfalls that sparked devastating floods in BC.
Another year of scorching heat and moisture-sucking winds make this the longest drought Canada’s Prairie Provinces have seen in 135 years, beating even the Depression era Dust Bowl conditions.
The Great North-Eastern Blackout, the largest power failure in North American history, leaves 10 million Canadians and over 40 million Americans in the dark.
Hurricane Juan makes land fall in Nova Scotia killing 100 million trees and causing $180 million in property damages.
West Nile Virus kills nine and scares everyone else (except possibly the pharmaceutical companies, who are seeing dollar signs; and about a billion others around the world who are more preoccupied with malaria – but can’t afford to pay the prices demanded by Big Pharmaceuticals for required drug treatments).