Paid off all the Christmas bills yet? Find yourself grumbling about tax increases, rate hikes, user fees?

Well then this column is for you, my disenchanted reader, and it comes courtesy of Maclean's in a cover story titled 99 Really Stupid Things the Government Did With Your Money.

The magazine gleaned most of its information from press releases and news stories and auditor generals' reports and groups like the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation.

Some of the examples are just ludicrous, bang-your-head-on-the-wall dumb at a time when we're in the midst of an economic downturn, when services and jobs and government spending is being cut.

I have selected examples that pertain to B.C., mostly, and others that are just too bad to ignore, such as the $36 million we donated to China - a country with $3 trillion in foreign reserves; or the $180,000 in loans and grants given to a Sydney, Nova Scotia concert promoter to bring rapper Snoop Dogg to the city to perform.

Read 'em and weep: 1) B.C. taxpayers shelled out $250,000 to outfit senior government officials with 268 iPads.

2) Defence Minister Peter MacKay takes a government helicopter from a personal fishing trip to the Gander, N.L., airport, at a cost of $16,000, which makes his $3,000 two-night stay at a Munich hotel small change.

3) David Hahn, head of BC Ferries, had his salary doubled from $500,000 to one million over the course of eight years, before retiring at 61 with an annual pension of $77,000.

4) Harper government spent $2 million refurbishing a resort for a G8 meeting in 2010 ($1,600 to move a bed, $3,500 to adjust light fixtures), and that same year spent $1.9 million to monitor what the media said about it in 2010.

5) And who can forget the $6 million in legal fees spent on Dave Basi and Bob Virk, political aides on trial for corruption? 6) A Tory candidate defeated in last year's election has a job created for him by the federal government, with a salary of $133,000.

7) How about $6.6 million to celebrate the 75th anniversary of CBC?

8) Or the seven new ice shacks for skaters along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, at a cost of $750,000 each - twice the cost of your average home in Ottawa?

9) B.C. school boards paid about $350,000 to mail out blank report cards after teachers refused to fill them in as part of a job action. Something to think about next Pro-D day.

10) Two-million dollars for the Canucks' Stanley Cup run and riot; this for a team that earned $44 million in playoff ticket sales.

$550,000 for a Grey Cup party in Vancouver. And $1.3 million from Abbotsford fans for the Heat - an AHL hockey team - a guarantee that they won't suffer any financial losses. Harper and company, not to be outdone, doled out $6 million to Quebec snowmobile clubs. Angry yet?

11) And for the rest of Canada, $456,000 on a national survey to gauge the importance of nature to Canadians, the fifth one since 1981. "Well, I still like to hike and swim and watch birds."

It goes on and on like this: $1 million for weather radios for Girl Guides, money to replace grass lawns with wheat, money to find out the value of the polar bear population ($400,000 each), $350,000 for yurts and teepees for a Quebec campground, a video on using bike lanes, a study on how to cope with diarrhea in the Caribbean, a "whistle cessation study" after residents complained about train whistles.

So next time you're trying to figure out how to pay for that vacation or your kid's college education or you're wondering when they're going to build a new school, hospital, or soccer field, just think of the $7 million the Royal Canadian Mint spent to make 400 million new pennies at 1.5 cents each.

t3atyler@shaw.ca