by Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Aug 22/97) - Federal bureaucrats across the North will be doing a lot of rubber stamping over the next year -- about $55,000 worth that is.

A Department of Public Works procurement competition for -- you guessed it -- rubber stamps, daters and related goods closed yesterday. The successful bidder will be in charge of providing rubber stamps across the NWT, Northern Alberta and Northeastern B.C.

According to department procurement officer Cathy Brown, the stamping competition has been stiff.

"I have people bidding from British Columbia and across to Montreal," she told the Drum from Edmonton. "Some years, I'll get five bids and in others, I'll get 10," she said. "You never know."

Brown said that her department expects to ring up approximately $55,000 in rubber stamp costs during the contract period of Sept 1, 1997, to Aug. 30, 1998.

Brown couldn't provide a guess as to the exact number of rubber stamps Northern bureaucrats require in any 12 month period.

But $55,000 can go a long way if you shop at the right office supply store.

So there's going to be a lot of rubber stamping going on. But taxpayers shouldn't be angry. In these days of downsizing, community empowerment and government layoffs, what's a bureaucrat to do while on the job anyway?

Rubber stamp things, right?