Cheers &Jeers

Jeers: to reckless drivers.

As if last week’s sudden arrival of wintry weather wasn’t enough to send vehicles careening into each other and sliding off the road, there are some drivers out there who simply throw all caution to the wind. On Wednesday, the RCMP in Holyrood reported that they had clocked a driver travelling at 166 kilometres an hour at 9:30 a.m. on the Trans-canada Highway near Middle Gull Pond. He was ticketed and his car was impounded. And here’s the clincher — the driver was only 18 years old and didn’t even have a driver’s licence, only a suspended learner’s permit. Clearly he has a lot of learning left to do. Speed kills.

Cheers: to bravery. Three people from this province — employees of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro — have been recognized for their courage and quick thinking with Electricity Canada’s Lifesaving Award. This past summer, Jaycee Grandy, Greg Higdon and Chad Jefford happened upon a serious accident in St. Anthony with multiple people injured. They surveyed the scene and began administering first aid as they waited for emergency services to arrive. The three were among the nine people from four utilities across Canada honoured at the 5th annual Electricity Canada Powering Partnerships conference in Ottawa on Nov. 23. Kudos!

Jeers: to the carbon tax.

Most people know it’s crucially important that we reduce the amount of harmful greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. The climate crisis is real and urgent and Canada is trying to steer people and businesses away from using fossil fuels. But the imposition of the federal carbon tax in this province, as of July 1, 2023 (Oh, Canada!) is going to make life more difficult for people who are already finding it tough to pay for home heating oil and other fuels. Wouldn’t a biggercarrot approach — more significant rebates and grants so that people can convert to electric cars and heat pumps — work better than penalizing people buying fuel and promising to give them back the money later? You actually have to have money to spend before you can get it back in the form of Climate Action Incentive Payments. The gap between rich and poor just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Jeers: to carbon tax cheerleaders.

It’s no surprise that local Liberal MPS are supporting their government’s carbon tax. That’s to be expected. And they are right to highlight the government’s assertion that some people may actually receive more money back through Climate Action Incentive Payments than they pay in directly. But to say they are thrilled (Seamus O’regan) and excited about the carbon tax (Gudie Hutchings) seems a little tone deaf when you consider how difficult higher fuel prices will make life for many people in this province. Taxpayers will still have to come up with the money to pay for a 17.38 cent-per-litre hike in heating oil prices up front, and that’s going to hurt.