rbt
Senior Member
When it is reported that a government (any government) puts "X billions of dollars" in a budget towards a specific project it does not magically make the money appear. They are just saying they plan to spend that much on that project over that time frame.
If the project is subsequently cancelled, it does not mean the money for that project is then sitting around with no purpose. It just means that, either, spending room has opened up elsewhere, or the government (or their replacement) will take on less debt (or lower income projections).
So when you ask what happened to that money.....the answer is "nothing, it did not really exist".
We have pre-funded projects via ear-marked trust accounts in the past (provincial funding of Spadina extension) but it is very rare, and you're right that HSR "funding" isn't close to that.
Typically only happens when the province runs an unexpectedly large surplus.
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