Another WTF moment in Canadian history ....

From the National Post:

Secretaries’ laugh therapy luncheon costs taxpayers $625
OUTAOUAIS HEALTH AGENCY ‘At $25 per person, the investment is really worth it’ BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS BERTRAND CanWest News Service

GATINEAU, QUE. • They take their laughter seriously at the Outaouais health agency. Last April, 25 secretaries, administrative assistants and support staff took part in a conference to learn how to laugh — at a cost to taxpayers of $625. They learned techniques to trigger their laugh, how to laugh at themselves and how to breathe through it all. Why? Because it lowers stress in the workplace, lightens the atmosphere and teaches people to better deal with stress, says the agency.

“If they spent $625 to learn about laughter therapy, it must not be funny in their workplace. People must be really stressed out,” said Marthe Robitaille, speaking on behalf of Outaouais l’urgence, a lobbying coalition that wants more health care funding for the region.

The 90-minute conference, held over a luncheon in April during Secretaries’ Week at a Gatineau golf club, was titled “Laughing at work — it’s serious.”

Apart from the 25 employees from Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de l’Outaouais, more than 100 other support staff from the region’s health care network took part in the conference.

“When employees are less stressed, at the end of the line, they perform better and are more efficient,” said Martin SaintLouis, spokesman for the agency. “At $25 per person, including lunch, to have secretaries that are motivated and more efficient, the investment is really worth it.”

The speaker was Linda Leclerc, a “certified laughter yoga teacher,” who was trained in B.C. by Dr. Madan Kataria, the Indian family physician who created laughter yoga. Her list of clients includes the Canada Revenue Agency, the Supreme Court of Canada and the Canada School of Public Service.

Ms. Leclerc said in an interview laughter’s health benefits are numerous: better breathing, higher heart rate, the release of endorphins — which balance the adrenaline brought on by stress.

“Laughing won’t change difficult events in the workplace, but it gives a different perspective,” she said.

Ms. Robitaille, the advocate for better health care in the Outaouais, agrees. She is a human resources consultant who gives presentations on stress management.

Laughter was not the only topic on the Outaouais health agency’s training menu. Sixteen employees attended a seven-hour workshop called “Neuroperformance: How to use one’s brain to the maximum.” That session, given by Dr. Marc Therrien, a neurologist and the director of the sleep clinic at a Gatineau hospital, aimed to “maximize cognitive abilities: concentration, memory, attention span,” said Mr. Saint-Louis.

The cost of learning those techniques: $2,545. At a cost of more than $10,000, 22 managers and professionals learned about “Political abilities: Key ingredient of success.” Employees requested and registered for that two-day workshop, said Mr. Saint-Louis.

Under Quebec provincial legislation, every business, government agency and ministry must invest every year 1% of its payroll in training. Any money not spent goes to a special provincial training fund.

I want my money back.