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But he said the government did want to ensure the commitment to the project — which will see a 50-kilometre light rail line connecting north-central Calgary to the southeast — was made before Parliament is dissolved, which is expected in August or September.

However, the windfall comes amid a blitz of federal Conservative spending announcements that included a major public relations campaign touting the distribution of a beefed-up Universal Child Care Benefit, which Conservative cabinet minister Pierre Poilievre described as “Christmas in July” for parents.

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Kent Hehr, the Liberal candidate in the battleground riding of Calgary Centre, said Kenney’s contention the announcement of funding wasn’t connected to the election was “absurd.”

He said the decision to cough up the cash shows the Tories are worried there are cracks in their Calgary stronghold, where the Liberals haven’t won a seat in four decades and the NDP has never won a riding.

“The Conservatives have systematically ignored Calgary for the last 10 years, and 10 minutes before an election, here they come bearing gifts,” said Hehr, noting the city had been pressing Ottawa for cash for the transit expansion since at least 2011.

In that year, Kenney criticized the city for not giving higher priority to the southeast LRT, which will run through part of his current riding, but would not pledge additional funds.

National polls have shown a three-way race among the Conservatives, New Democrats and Liberals, and uncertainty reigns over Alberta’s political landscape — long a Tory bedrock — after the recent defeat of the provincial Progressive Conservative dynasty by the NDP.