Cheers & Jeers
JEERS: to how the other half lives. As electrical ratepayers in this province looks ahead to the possibility of a doubling of rates in the next few years thanks to the Muskrat Falls project, our neighbours to the west were reading this news release: “Hydro-québec rate increase below inflation for fourth consecutive year.” The proposed bite for Quebec customers this upcoming year is 0.8 per cent. The latest compendium of Canadians rates put out by Hydro-québec in 2017 saw customers in Montreal paying 7.07 cents a kilowatt hour, while St. John’s customers were paying 11.15 cents. A big part of the reason Hydroquébec can do that, of course, is courtesy of the cheap power they get from the last bad hydroelectric deal we made on the Churchill River. History, sadly, repeats.
CHEERS: to summer sun. As of this writing, this week’s forecast calls for seven straight days of sun. Wait — are we in St. John’s, a.k.a. Fog Town? Is this real or are we just suffering from heat stroke? We’ve got our fingers crossed and sunblock at the ready.
JEERS: to apologies that aren’t apologies. Roseanne Barr could learn a thing or two about being sincere when saying sorry. A little dose of humility wouldn’t go astray, either. Barr made her first television appearance Thursday since her rebooted sitcom “Roseanne” was cancelled by ABC after she posted a racist tweet likening former U.S. president Barack Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to a cross between the Muslim Brotherhood and an actor from “Planet of the Apes.” The Associated Press reported that after being urged to apologize by talk show host Sean Hannity on Fox News, Barr said “she would tell Jarrett, ‘I’m sorry that you feel harm and hurt, I never meant that. I never meant to hurt anybody.’” But soon her thoughts turned to herself and the harm the tweet has wreaked on her reputation and career — seemingly forgetting she was the architect of her own misfortune. “I am a creative genius, and this is not a good feeling for an artist to be treated this way, and it’s not a good feeling for a citizen, either,” she said. Cry us a river. No doubt she’s a very stable genius, as well.