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VICTORIA – B.C. communities represented by Liberal MLAs are more likely to get lucrative transportation projects such as highway repaving, road widening and bridge work, according to a Postmedia News analysis of provincial spending since the last election.

The province has committed $1.3 billion on tendered road projects since May 2013, with almost three-quarters of the money going to Liberal ridings — a rate that exceeds the party’s share of seats and just so happens to be dominated by ridings held by cabinet ministers.

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Transportation minister Todd Stone insists politics aren’t a factor in picking projects, arguing that road safety, vehicle congestion and population growth are the key factors in deciding which highways to build or roads to upgrade.

It’s straight what-have-you-done-for-me-lately politics

But that hasn’t stopped the B.C. Liberal Party from stuffing its re-election press releases with language that credits its MLAs for securing the transportation money — and suggesting to voters that only by re-electing the governing party in May 2017 can the ridings continue to see the same investment in roadwork, repaving and safety improvements.