🇨🇦 Canada
20 real examples of unusual Canadian government spending, biggest first. Each one links to its original source, so you can check it yourself.
An unusual cost is not automatically waste. Some had good reasons; some really didn’t. Amounts are in original currency and not adjusted for inflation. See how we check the facts.
- ⚡ Muskrat Falls dam in LabradorC$12.7 billion latest completion estimate · 2020
A hydro dam to power Newfoundland and Labrador. Estimated at about $6.2 billion. Then what?
- 🔥 Phoenix, the federal payroll systemC$2.2 billion projected extra cost to 2023 · 2018
Software meant to save money paying public servants. It didn’t go as planned.
- 🏟️ Montreal’s 1976 Olympic StadiumC$1.5 billion Olympic facilities debt · 2006
Built for a two-week party in 1976. Guess how long it took to pay off.
- 🏭 Cancelling two power plants in OntarioC$1.1 billion estimated cost of cancelling · 2013
Two gas-fired plants, one in Oakville, one in Mississauga. Neither got built where planned. What did cancelling cost?
- 🚗 Quebec’s online licence and auto insurance portalC$1.1 billion likely total cost · 2025
Renew your licence online, skip the line. The rollout created bigger lines. Name the bill.
- 💻 Ontario’s electronic health records effortC$1 billion spent over about a decade · 2009
A plan to put every patient’s records online. Ten years in, how much had gone in?
- 📇 Canada’s firearms registryC$1 billion projected cost · 2002
In 1995 it was expected to cost taxpayers about $2 million. What did the auditor general find?
- 📱 ArriveCAN, the pandemic border appC$59.5 million estimated cost · 2024
An app to fill in travel forms. Guess what it cost.
- 🔒 Ontario’s solitary confinement billC$30 million court-ordered damages · 2021
A provincial version of the same problem. Same result.
- ⚖️ Solitary confinement payouts to federal inmatesC$28 million class-action damages · 2023
Courts ruled it broke the Charter. Then came the cheques.
- 🪩 A pile of shiny steel balls beside a highwayC$600,000 one sculpture · 2011
Hundreds of mirrored balls, stacked like a giant cluster. Beside the Whitemud.
- ⭕ A giant blue ring beside a Calgary roadC$471,000 one sculpture · 2013
A huge blue circle with lights, on a road overpass. Name your price.
- 🤖 A crop-tending farm robotC$330,000 research funding · 2024
The crops have robots now.
- 🐟 Fish shoulders that could help astronautsC$150,000 research grant · 2020
A fish. Its shoulders. Outer space.
- 🦆 Ontario’s grant toward a giant rubber duckC$120,000 provincial grant · 2017
Canada turned 150. Ontario helped bring a six-storey rubber duck.
- 🧊 Manitoba’s $129-million solitary confinement settlementC$100,000 max per person · 2026
Awards start around $3,000. The top cheque is six figures.
- 🍽️ In-flight catering on one Governor General tripC$93,118 in-flight catering · 2022
A week-long trip to Dubai. 30 people. One very long food bill.
- 🏔️ B.C.’s solitary confinement settlementC$91,000 max per person · 2026
Held alone in a B.C. jail for 15+ days in a row? There’s a claim form for that.
- 🛶 An indoor “lake” for the G8/G20 media centreC$57,000 the water feature · 2010
A shallow pool with deck chairs and a canoe, inside a Toronto convention centre. To show reporters Muskoka.
- 🍊 A glass of orange juice at a London luxury hotelC$16 one glass · 2011
One glass. Freshly squeezed. Billed to a federal travel expense claim.
Related stories
- Up to $100,000 for solitary confinement: what inmates are really getting across Canada
- BC announced a $789-million museum rebuild. Then hit undo.
- ArriveCAN: how a pandemic border app reached an estimated $59.5 million
Where do taxes go in Canada? →
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