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If you’re the energy minister in a province filled with angry voters seething at exorbitant electricity bills, the last thing you want is to find yourself asserting that the $4.85 million paid to one of the power companies’ chief executives has nothing to do with the outrageous level of monthly charges.

But Glenn Thibeault wanted the job — he even quit the NDP to join Ontario’s Liberal government — so there he was before the cameras, piously insistingthat the rich pay package of Hydro One boss Mayo Schmidt was really just a pittance in the grand scheme of things.

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“The salary of the CEO has nothing to do with the rates that we’re seeing on our bills,” Thibeault insisted. “The rates are set by the Ontario Energy Board, they’re not set by the company.”

Notice the clever reference to “our” bills, as in: “Hey, I live here as well. I’m stuck with the same pain for 14 years of Liberal mismanagement as you are.”