A Few Minutes in Ottawa West- Nepean on November 21, 2017 ...

 

While driving home from interviewing a bright young man as a potential new Director on the Board of Ottawa West Nepean Conservative Association, and having a $3.00 coffee, my wife called and asked me to pick up some fish for dinner that night.  I drove to a supermarket and picked out some trout and a few other bits.  I then decided to buy a few russet potatoes for my wife.  When I got to the potato shelves, there was an older lady struggling to open the plastic bags to carry fruit and veggies, so I offered her the one I had just opened.  She was about five feet tall and I saw that she was looking up at the rack of potatoes with what seemed to be a lack of focus.  She then asked me if I would pick some potatoes out for her.  I then noticed her eyes were slightly filmed over, perhaps the start of cataracts.   As I began to pick, review and put a few potatoes in her bag, she said “..not too many, I only have $5.00 to spend today for me and my husband”.  I put four potatoes in her bag, and as I went to put a fifth potato in.  She said again “…no, I only have $5.00”.  She thanked me and started walking towards the check out counter.

 

I was feeling very good about myself for helping her and as I commenced to look at and select some potatoes for my wife, the $5.00 figure for two people in a day hit me like a brick.  I threw a few potatoes in my cart and speeded after the lady.  I caught her at the cash and there was nothing else in her cart but the potatoes.  I told the clerk I would pay for the potatoes, and the lady said no.  I said yes and she let me pay.  She then thanked me and asked the clerk for a receipt to show her husband she did not spend more than $5.00.  The clerk said no, the man paid for your potatoes.  She then left quickly.

 

I paid for my goods and then wished I had given her my fish.  I then walked out quickly to try to find her, but she was gone. 

 

How can we have a lady in Canada worried to death about spending $5.00 a day for two people?  I had just spent $3.00 on a coffee and I do not want to say what my food bill was that day.  I no longer feel good about paying for a few potatoes.

 

The Prime Minister flies in the Caribbean on a private helicopter.  The Finance Minister has a Villa in France registered through a private company in Alberta.  Do they know what it is to buy only four potatoes and not five, because the bill might be too high?  There is something wrong with our country and we need to fix it.