Tale #1: What's In a Name

Perhaps you've heard that the federally run Farm Credit Corporation (FCC) is changing its name - to Farm Credit Canada. The name change is one of several amendments to the corporation's enabling legislation that was in Parliament before the summer recessed. But since farmers pay to run the FCC through interest charged on their loans, it's the cost of the name change that is sure to raise more than a few eyebrows.

According to data dug up by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) through Access to Information, the FCC estimates it will cost the Regina-based Crown agency $433,000 to make the one-word change to its name. About $293,000 has been allocated to replace logos and signs in the FCC's 100 plus offices across the country, but another $140,000 is being spent on design work and focus groups for the new name, making it quite possibly the most expensive word in the history of the federal government.

Tale #2: Trips to the Moon

Also through our Access to Information research, the CTF has uncovered numbers that reveal Saskatchewan Indian chiefs spent a mind-boggling $2.13 million on travel last year alone - four times what the entire provincial cabinet spent in the same year. Unfortunately, the lack of detail makes it difficult for taxpayers and reserve residents to know if the trips were legitimate. They could have been flying to the moon for all we know!

The average salary and honoraria for Saskatchewan's 70 chiefs amounted to $58,570 (tax-free), and their average travel expenses were $30,384 (more than double the average for all of Canada's Indian chiefs). The highest paid chief made $152,000 (tax-free) - about $37,000 more than the Premier.

It is worth noting that the actual level of compensation is likely much higher since many Indian band governments also provide their leaders with additional salary and compensation from the bands own gaming and resource revenues that would not necessarily be reported in the government figures.

Tale # 3: The Welfare Trap for Provinces

Ever wonder why the Sask government has been so reluctant to use their recent windfall of oil and gas revenues to provide energy rebates to utility ratepayers Part of the answer may be the warped nature of the federal Equalization Program. Equalization provides unconditional transfers to provincial governments, like our own, that have below standard ability to raise their own revenues (aka 'have-not' provinces). The program, which is designed to respond to changes in each province's revenue generating capacity, has some very perverse results.

According to documents obtained by the CTF from Sask Finance, for every $1 dollar increase in the price of barrel of oil, Saskatchewan gains $36.8 million in new resource revenue, but loses 76% of it ($27.9 million) in lower equalization transfers.

Tale #4: Government and Bureaucracy

Pythagorean theorem: 24 words. The Lord's Prayer: 66 words. Archimedes' Principle: 67 words. The Ten Commandments: 179 words. Abe Lincoln's Gettysburg Address: 286 words. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: 2,366 words. Federal regulations on the use of clothing labels: 10,168 words. The Income Tax Act (not including regulations): 503,193 words.