The Toronto Lexicon, Entry No. 1

Billion (bíl’-yen) n

1. The cardinal number equal to 10 to the power of 9, most frequentlyused in reference to money.

2. A lot of money.

3. Not nearly enough money,esp. when it refers to money provided to the city by other levels ofgovernment.

4. The minimum amount of money Stephen Harper must spend inorder to convince Torontonians he believes in public transit.

The Toronto Lexicon is an ongoing project by this blog to provide preciseand accurate definitions of terms as they are used in local politicalparlance. Tune in for regular additions.