According to an article in the Edmonton Sun, Health Canada spent more then $3.6 Million developing new warning labels for cigarette packages. And there is dispute over whether the new labels will even make it onto the packs! From 2004 to 2010, Health Canada spent almost $1.9 million on public opinion research, like focus groups, about the warnings. The department also doled out $945,000 in contracts for mock-up cigarette packs, literature reviews, text revisions and organizing meetings. The project was then put on hold by the health minister so her department can consider whether they’re the most effective way to reach smokers.
Also in 2010 as reported by the Edmonton Sun, the feds spent $143 million to train 1,568 border guards to bear firearms – weapons that have only been used once: to kill a moose. Officers have drawn their weapons 100 times in the last 3 years, but only one CBSA agent has ever discharged his firearm – to kill an injured moose.
