Hats to socks — federal government spends millions on promo merch

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OTTAWA — Hats and bags have been in high demand among government bureaucrats, with federal departments spending nearly $1 million on those two expensive tattoo items alone.

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IN government documents uncovered by massive 900-page response In response to a question about the order filed by Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, the Canadian bureaucracy has spent more than $13 million on branded merchandise since 2022, including all manner of promotional trinkets including socks, expensive Yeti and Stanley tumblers, air fresheners and pens.

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“It's like the government held a competition to see which department could come up with the stupidest way to spend taxpayer money, and they all won,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which discovered the documents.

“That's what happens when you have too many bureaucrats and too much tax revenue.”

Largest funder of the RCMP, but declined to disclose details

Across all departments, $207,000 was spent on hats, $607,000 on bags and $52,000 on socks.

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The biggest funder was the RCMP, with the federal police service spending more than $4 million on supplies but saying there were no records detailing what was spent on what.

Canadian Heritage was the second-largest spender on promotional trinkets, spending more than $2 million.

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That figure included spending $1.7 million on three-by-six-foot Canadian flags, $143,000 on Canadian flag pins, $14,000 on Canadian table flags and $16,000 on pins and cards with words of encouragement for Canadian athletes competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

CBC-Radio Canada also declined to provide details on how much they spent on branded merchandise.

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Mint spends a coin on leather notebooks

The Department of National Defense spent $1.4 million on promotional trinkets, and Farm Credit Canada spent $871,000, including $32,600 on tractor-shaped air fresheners.

Fashionable Yeti and Stanley drinkware were also in high demand, with $40,000 spent on glasses.

Public Safety Canada alone spent nearly $16,000 on branded YETI water bottles for its Young Women in Public Safety program, an initiative in which the department also spent $5,715 on Whitney water bottles, $1,205 on T-shirts, $804 on wine glasses.

Natural Resources Canada spent $256,061 on promotional items, including $7,000 on eco-friendly notebooks and $8,000 on Geological Survey of Canada notebooks.

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The Royal Canadian Mint spent nearly $42,000 on leather journals with laser-engraved pens, and VIA Rail spent $262,000 on merchandise, including $5,000 on air fresheners to promote the nation's new rolling stock.

Questionable expenses are not isolated

Thousands more were spent across all departments on temporary tattoos, sunglasses, branded charcuterie boards and coffee mugs.

“Government bureaucrats spending thousands of dollars on stress balls is really stressing out taxpayers,” Terrazzano said.

“Unless temporary tattoos depict the national debt and remind bureaucrats to cut spending, they are a waste of money.”

This is not the only case of questionable government spending.

Last year, Canadian bureaucrats spent almost $8 million on art rentals from the government's federal art bank, while Trudeau's Liberals forked out nearly $2 million to produce government podcasts that few Canadians bothered to listen to, including $155,736 from Canadian Heritage to produce a seven-episode podcast about the care and preservation of cultural artifacts.

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