I'm sure it has nothing to do with the Irving's, the ultra-rich family that controls industry in that part of the country and has ties to government. Nothing at all, I'm sure...
People (including young people) are dying slow, miserable deaths from a mysterious contaminant that rots their brains like mad cow disease. Some evidence points to the province's everything-baron (Irving) and then the gov't mysteriously ends the case and punishes the doctor who's still treating the dying young people... gives him tons of paperwork to report the cases.