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The Canadian Taxpayers Federation recently revealed almost $5,000 has been spent on such celebrations over the last three years. Meanwhile, Santa doesn’t forget the 22 staff, either — each gets a Christmas gift worth at least $100.

And no doubt everyone’s all a-twitter with excitement each springtime when the truly mind-boggling adult Easter egg hunt goes ahead — that’s another $900.

Meanwhile, the only hunting many Albertans are doing these days is for some type of work paying close to the salary they were pulling down until a few months ago.

This week, Enbridge joined the lengthy list of companies who’ve slashed jobs as the energy sector feels the brunt of low oil and gas prices. Other sectors of this city’s economy are also feeling that pain as housing starts weaken, restaurants and bars empty and shoppers stay home. The layoffs in those industries won’t be as headline-grabbing, but they’ll nevertheless cause anguish for many Calgarians.

Some, however, appear immune from this pain. Take the province’s health authority and its constant head scratching in dealing with massive cellphone bills run up by staff.

After it was revealed monthly bills for AHS employees exceeded $500 on 875 occasions during a recent 18-month period, the authority instituted new policies to save $5 million a year and cancelled 3,500 devices — about 15 per cent of the total supplied to staff.

Some might ask why any organization hands out 23,000 phones in the first place in an age where every 14-year-old has his or her own smartphone. Simply tell people to use their own devices and submit detailed expenses for cost overages due to work, the same way mileage is paid when people use their own vehicles on business.