Vaughan resident demonstrates cost of billion dollar gas plant scandal

Vaughan Weekly
April 1, 2014

Last month, Vaughan resident Antony Niro, founder of yourbillion.ca, printed a billion dollars, displayed it in Yonge-Dundas Square and recorded the public’s reaction to how much a billion dollars is and that it was wasted on the cancellation of two gas plants in Ontario during the 2011 election.

“I was becoming concerned the public was forgetting how much money was wasted when the Liberal government cancelled construction of two gas plants in what was widely seen as an attempt to retain seats in the 2011 election,” explained Niro.

For the general public just how much a billion dollars is can be unfathomable. To make the point of what a billion dollars looks like, six skids of $100 bills were printed and displayed in Yonge-Dundas Square.

“I wanted taxpayers to see what a billion dollars looked like and record those describing what they would do with the money and how they felt knowing it was gone, wasted” stated Niro. “For me what’s on those skids is a hospital. We’ve been trying to get provincial funding to build a hospital in Vaughan for years but funding is always the problem, now I realize we had the money and now it’s gone.”

Reaction in the square was first of surprise as to how much a billion dollars really is, then of shock that it was wasted with no public oversight.

“No government can be trusted that wastes a billion dollars. This was no mistake – the failure of eHealth and the Gun Registry were mistakes, but this was a calculated waste of $1.12 billion dollars and in the end we got nothing for it,” said Niro.

You can watch the YouTube video and see the billion dollars and the public’s reaction by visiting yourbillion.ca or visit http://youtu.be/rVMf7NYLazY.