Could two hundred dollars make the difference between life and death?
I’m a numbers guy. With our personal finances, we think of expenditures in terms of $100s. In the some of the countries we travel to, people think in terms of $1 expenditures. In the large church I pastored, it was $1,000s. For the province of Alberta it is $1,000,000s. The total expenditure budget for Alberta in 2026 is $83.9 billion. This week, the world got its first trillionaire.
These are more than numbers. Behind the numbers are humans.
We exist in a world where one person has one thousand billion dollars, and over one billion people have less than one thousand dollars.
One trillion is equivalent to 200 round trip journeys to the moon, an average of 238,855 miles.
A trillionaire could spend one million dollars every single day without stopping, which would take nearly 2,740 years.
A Photon-Counting Scanner
Alberta got its first photon-counting CT scanner in June 2026. That’s very good news. There are only three in Canada. This one will serve Alberta and Western Canada.
It offers up to five times higher image resolution and up to 60% lower radiation.
For patients who require frequent imaging, including those undergoing cancer treatment or requiring ongoing monitoring, the reduced radiation exposure is especially meaningful, supporting safer care over time. Faster scans can also ease the experience for pediatric patients, reducing stress for children and their families.
The scanner was donated to the University of Alberta Hospital and carries a price tag of about $2.5 million. Suncor covered $1.5 million and The University Hospital Foundation and Alberta Health Services covered the remainder.
Against billions, Suncor’s $1.5 million doesn’t amount to much. But to the patients, its everything.
The estimated $120 million cost of a provincial referendum to nowhere is pennies on the dollar against the total budget. Pittance.
$120 million would buy a lot of photon-counting scanners. Or disability payments. That could save a lot of Albertan lives.
AISH to ADAP
Bruce Johnson was 57 years old. He’d lived with severe mental health challenges since he was 10 years old. For almost 30 years he received AISH which is Alberta’s disability support program and with it, he survived.
AISH paid $1,940 a month. Canada’s poverty line for a single person is above $2,200 a month.
Beginning July 1, he’d be moved from AISH to a new program called the Alberta Disability Assistance Program, or ADAP. His monthly support would drop by $200 (existing AISH recipients will receive a $200/month top up until December 2026). The dig is, Bruce might be required to participate in employment programs and job searches, or risk losing support entirely. Bruce had been unable to work for years.
The change saves the government $49 million.
The change for Bruce? A man already living below the poverty line was now told he would receive less and be expected to do more to keep it.
On June 8, RCMP responded to a fatal fire at a home in the Village of Empress. It was Bruce Johnson’s home.
Would a few dollars more have made a difference?
Generosity
Why does the $100 rebate offered to 3.4 million Albertans earning under $225,000 feel tone deaf? Is it because of Bruce? That $340 million would have gone a long way to save lives.
$1 trillion or $1 million. The numbers are far beyond me. But a life like Bruce Johnson’s is not. Our condolences to his family and friends in Empress. And the lives we work to support in Ukraine or the children we support through ERDO or World Vision, matter.
Thank you to all REVwords readers for making a difference, $10 or $100 at a time. We know you, like us, have limited discretionary funds. Together, we have given over $100,000 to support children, feed refugees, educate students, fund kids and youth camps, and purchase equipment for people living through a war. Thank you.
Jocelyn and I will be putting the rebate to use in Empress through a group we work with to help others like Bruce.
How about you?
Please join the conversation and post a comment below.
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