Article content continued

But Trudeau, who could use his fall fiscal update to top up spending if he chose, is busy enough just trying to get existing stimulus money out the door.

Monthly spending data released by the finance department suggests funds are hardly being rushed out. In April and May — the first two months of the fiscal year, and the most recent in available data — the government spent 14.9 per cent of all budgeted program expenses. That’s the lowest proportion in five years, and below the 15.3 per cent average pace over the decade- long reign of the defeated Conservatives, who were notorious for leaving budget funds to lapse at the end of the year, never to be spent.

In the Conservative government’s 2009 stimulus budget, that two-month share was 16.1 per cent.

Trudeau’s pace of spending is more in line with what’s expected from a new government, as departments recalibrate spending to meet a new agenda and cabinet ministers get up to speed on decisions.

It also underscores the challenges that fiscal policy — particularly infrastructure spending — can face as a tool for stimulus. It’s tough for the federal government to disburse money because it often only releases funds once a project is fully underway, according to Bruce Carson, a top aide to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a key architect of the 2009 stimulus plan.

“There is a vast difference between ‘federal’ money that is committed and money actually spent and in the hands of workers,” Carson said.