Looking like a nice sunny day.

End of the week, been back home for 5 days, busy, lots going on, cant seem to get motivated about blogging, like hard to walk and chew gum at same time.

I did attend a meeting with 2 officials of Dept. of Labrador Affairs on Wednesday evening. Disappointing turn out, only 5 from town; 2 from Inuit Community Government, to retailers, me. Officials did meet with 2 from Nunatsiavut next morning, not sure if they got any further or more out of it than us 5.
The up side was that the officials are touring the coast with information and listening [we hope] of issues surrounding the Provincial Air Foodlift Subsidy. We learnt what the subsidy is 26.8 cents a pound on the cost of freight. Also what qualifies and what does not qualify for the subsidy.
The down side, one of the officials was condescending at times [unnecessarily so]. Many of the qualified items are unhealthy processed foods i.e. TV dinners, frozen entrees, pogo sticks, onion rings, processed subs and wraps. Also included are frozen meats.

Some items on the “non-subsidized” list are; rice, dried beans, lintels, dried fruit, pastas. We will have to work on effecting some change there.
One of the rationales for not including the above was that they don’t have a best before date. Well news flash, neither does frozen pogo sticks.

Troubling for me is the fact that none of this subsidy is monitored for quality or process. There is no auditing done to prove that the ‘consumer’ is getting the full benefit. The retailer claims the subsidy; money is handed over, no proof that that subsidy is benefiting the consumer at all.
In one case, fresh milk, it seems that retailers either take a loss or the profit is marginal; in all other cases there is no way to know.



To round up on a happy positive note; the fab five at a Greek BYO eatery in Montreal. The happy my have been induced, but what the heck.

This little lady has been in residence since yesterday, taking up lots of our time. She was rescued off the streets by a neighbor; they had her for couple of days, sort of overloaded with other animals so asked if we wanted her.