#1Jan 21st, 2012
OTTAWA — As quickly as a federal government tender for thousands of stress balls surfaced Friday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay ordered a stop to the process.
A tender call was issued that wanted 20,000 stress balls delivered as "promotional items" for the Department of National Defence. The balls, which had to be orange, were to be delivered by the end of March.
Friday evening, however, a spokesman for MacKay said the process was essentially stopped in its tracks, as it was not "judicious use" of public funds.
"As soon as Minister MacKay was made aware of this contract, he instructed officials to immediately cancel this unnecessary expense of taxpayer money," Jay Paxton wrote in an email.
The original intention, however, of the stress balls — a common desk ornament for those trying to avoid repetitive stress injuries — is not clear.
In addition to being found on desks and office cubicles, the products are also featured heavily at trade shows and other functions.
Like many other federal departments, DND is being asked to cut back budgets to keep federal finances above water.
Gregory Thomas, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said Friday that he can only speculate as to the purpose of that many stress balls being ordered by government.
"I think there's 166 members of the Conservative caucus, so maybe they're planning on having the stress balls wear out after one day and they're planning on having 120 days of discussions on their pensions," Thomas said Friday.
"We naturally frown on these kinds of goofy things."
