Guest Post

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Nero Made History Doing Nothing":


Let me throw something out to permit a certain perspective to enter into the discussion.

The province of Ontario took the decision to create a showcase and in 1969 set out to build Ontario Place, an internationally-acclaimed cultural, leisure and entertainment parkland on and about three man-made islands along the Lake Ontario waterfront.

Ontario Place opened in May 1971 and featured a five pod pavilion complex, The Forum, pedal boats, a marina, restaurants and the world's first permanent IMAX theatre, Cinesphere.

Construction started on March 17, 1969 and took an estimated 1.5 million person hours of labour to build at a cost of $29,000,000.

The original park consisted of three man-made islands connected by picturesque bridges and walkways with the Pods, or Pavilion, complex and the geodesic dome of the Cinesphere as the focal points.

The park initially encompassed 96 acres of which 51 acres were land fill.

The gate first opened to the public on May 22, 1971.

According to the Bank of Canada inflation calculator $100 in 1971 would be worth $576.06 in 2013. If this factor is applied to the original Ontario Place cost, it would cost $167,000,000 to build in 2013.

Now, for a moment, close your eyes and visualize Ontario Place at the time it was built. And then close your eyes a second time and visualize the Hillary Heritage Park, whose cost seems to have settled somewhere in the order of $22,000,000.

Then say that Ontario Place when built is equal to 7.6 Hillary Heritage parks.

People, park Hillary Heritage Park in the scrap heap of Aurora Council ideas that never came to exist.

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My younger children have many happy memories of days at Ontario Place. 

Free parking .  Free admission . Great play.... and a concert in the evening.  Arthur Fiedler and Sing along with Mitch .

The  Cinesphere  and  the amazing  high speed flight skimming the rocks   and surface of Northern Lake Superior.

It was a gift of gigantic proportions.

Probably funded with Lottery money.

Which were an embarrassment of riches. Like the first 3% sales tax imposed by the government.