OTTAWA – A yellow schoolbus rumbled to a stop at the village grocery store just north of the Arctic circle and, without warning, a bundled-up Governor General had walked in and was wandering the aisles.
Michaelle Jean considered the prices an outrage.
The subsequent scene was a solitary snapshot of Jean’s five-year term, which concludes this week with viceregal transition ceremonies.
This wasn’t quite the stereotypical case of a well-heeled public figure experiencing sticker shock upon exposure to the cost of everyday living. It would in fact qualify as a normal reaction for a first-time visitor to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T. – because, on the 69th parallel, the price of groceries is just that obscene.
A jug of milk cost $13.99. Fruits and vegetables were also prohibitively expensive. And anyone with a craving for exotic fruit would have to be desperate enough to shell out $14.89 for a pineapple.
So the Queen’s representative did the natural thing: she summoned the national media.
[More]