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Such figures make infrastructure spending sound like a perpetual cash machine. But while Canada’s economy, bashed by the rout in commodities, particularly oil, needs something to help turn it around, other economists are far more skeptical that this particular strategy is the way to go.

They aren’t denying that Canada needs to boost infrastructure spending. On the contrary, many will tell you that the country needs to step up its investment in assets that will boost economic productivity. If transportation corridors improve, for example, it benefits the economy by making it easier for manufacturers to get goods to market.

They’re just not sure that all infrastructure projects generate the instant returns some Canadians have been led to expect.

“To the extent the Liberals are selling the idea that all we have to do is spend a few extra billion dollars on something and then we’re back to the good times, well, no, that’s not going to happen,” said Stephen Gordon, an economics professor at Laval University in Quebec City.

The Liberal government’s 10-year, $125-billion plan isn’t all new money, but an expansion of an existing $65-billion plan put in place by the previous government. The money is also spread over time, so the amount flowing into the economy is more like $10 billion a year, a fraction of the $300 billion or so the federal government spends each year.

Of course, $10 billion is a lot of money, but it represents only 0.5 per cent of Canada’s $2-trillion GDP. And since the new money being spent is only about $5 billion or 0.25 per cent of GDP, the plan looks more like a rounding error on the federal balance sheet.