April 2 – not likely an April Fool Joke ?? : JUNE

Rotzy isn’t joking when he writes about the salary of Mayo Schmidt, CEO, HYDRO ONE. This is really shameful and it is a wonder how Kathleen Wynne can stand before the electorate with a straight face as she talks about the province’s expenses.

Local Stuff
Why is it we’re still getting ads/flyers from The Northern Store in our Post Office boxes every Thurs? Last week they were pumping appliances and furniture, canoes, boats and motors and cetera. But alas, the closest store to Nakina is Sioux Lookout….and I’m guessing half of their stuff came from Nakina when they locked up here….Hay River NWT is definitely too far to go for a new appliance, and somebody told us they also closed a store in Alaska. Alaska?? Anyway, we got a new stove here last summer, when they were still open. I wonder what will be on sale next week? Bottom line….when a company is in such absolutely dire financial straits as The Northwest Co is, why do they keep throwing money away?? On the other hand I got some good news last week from Pennocks Mini Mart….’The World’s Smallest Supermarket’, where the selection grows almost daily….that their ‘new-improved hours’ are now in effect….7:00AM to 7:00PM.…SEVEN days a week!! The hours will expand again as Walleye season arrives….earlier opening and later closing. We urge you to ‘shop locally’ if and when you can. This is being written Easter Sunday (*see below), and for those counting….yours truly included….we are now 12 days into Spring, yet the only real sign of it around town to date is the Works Dept’s effort to get the drainage ditches ready to handle run-off. Yet we continue to get overnight snowfalls, so I’m not sure if they’re winning or losing? No sweat….I was virtually guaranteed by another oldster last week that ”it’ll all be gone by Canada Day”. As I said, it’s Easter Sunday (*see above)…. 9:28AM at the moment and I have just finished gathering my hidden Easter Eggs! Rotzy managed to find 29 of the 30!, which I believe to be a new record!! I had to ‘substitute’ jelly beans for chocolate eggs this year, but the record still counts! Actually I plan to ‘celebrate’ by eating the ‘evidence’ later on.

Back On Track
Thanks to the thoughtfulness of a long-tyme friend/reader, my hopes of getting a Grade 12 Diploma got a boost last week. An email landed here at “F/N”HQ with a copy of the Form to get the Form to get the High School Transcript! I managed to print it off, Miz. Jo helped me fill it out, I got me a money order and mailed it off. Jeez…maybe this really is gonna happen!!?? Stay tuned.

Best Quote Of Any Era
”The Budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, the arrogance of Officialdom should be tempered and controlled, the Public Debt should be reduced, the assistance to Foreign Lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt. People must agaain learn to work instead of living on Public Assistance.” *Cicero…55 B.C. (*evidently we’ve learned nothing over the last 2073 years!!

Readers Write
And this one passed along a couple real ‘gems’ last week!! Here goes: 1/ Wine does NOT make you FAT. It makes you LEAN……against tables, chairs, floors, walls and ugly people. 2/ The Seven Dwarfs Of Menopause……Itchy, Bitchy, Sweaty, Sleepy, Bloated, Forgetful and Psycho. (thx rk)

On And On And On It Goes….
….where it stops nobody knows! Sounds kinda like The Wheel Of Fortune, doesn’t it? Not Pat and Vanna’s Wheel, but rather the one at a Carnival. Only thing is, unfortunately THIS Carnival is the Province Of Ontario. ‘Where it stops nobody knows’ comes next, right? What we DO know is that it’ll be further in the RED than most ‘experts’ insist we’ll NEVER escape from, altho the way Ms Wynne is handing out ‘vote-for-me-dollars’ to any/all municipalities province-wide, she/we will be WAY over our heads. A few “F/N” readers have painstakingly pointed out to Rotzy recently that Ontario’s debt isn’t just a Wynne-thing….Dalton left her a helluva mess for starters. Then it was pointed out that Mike Harris/Ernie Eves might have been the worst-ever Provincial money managers. Jeez, even Bob Rae got badly failing grades, going back to when his Orange Team had their one and only kick at the can back in the 1980’s. Well, fast-forward to NOW, OK? From here in the cheap seats, Andrea Horwath has TWO chances to succeed the Wynne Liberals in June….SLIM and NONE. Just about the same odds as Rotzy becoming the Northern Ontario Party candidate for TBay/Superior North. Furthermore, even if I did/do win the riding, The NOP will NOT form the gov’t. OK, OK, OK….yep, I saved the best for last. Can/will Doug Ford become the next Premier of Ontario?? That question can/will evoke two vastly different sets of emotions…..the hoots and hollers, catcalls, guffaws and back slapping is coming from Liberals….and the wailing, weeping and gnashing of teeth, which almost drowns out the Liberals, originates at Conservative H/Q….especially from lifelong Blue Team members. ‘Nuff said. Almost.

Jo Ann dug up some info last week on Ms Wynne (via Facebook*tm?) that is now ALL over the place! When she was first elected as the Premier….that’s four years ago?….Hydro One’s CEO Mayo Schmidt was earning (or should I say ‘being paid?)….$1.2 Million a year. Not exactly ‘chump change, you agree? For the year 2017 he ‘earned’ $6.1 Million….that is NOT a “F/N” typo!!! $6.1 Million Dollars!!!HOW/WHY? does this happen??!! Somebody make a mistake? Too many ‘0’s? The olde guy did some further checking into Schmidt’s 2017 contract….it was loaded with ‘incentives’. At or near the top of his list was ‘improving customer satisfaction’….as in making sure we were ‘happy with Hydro One’. Rotzy is NOT happy! At all!!! How in hell did Kathleen Wynne let/allow this to happen on her watch?? There is something very wrong going on at Hydro One! And it needs to be fixed!!