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The Conservative government anted up $583-million for Calgary’s long-awaited southwest ring road on Thursday as it continued to hand out cash ahead of an imminent federal election.

The ring road funding comes less than a week after the Tories committed $1.53 billion to Calgary’s proposed Green Line LRT project and just before an election call that many are expecting to come as soon as this weekend.

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Jason Kenney, the Conservative’s political minister for southern Alberta, said Ottawa is funding the Calgary projects based on merit, not electoral considerations.

“This is not a government that believes in pork-barrel politics,” the defence minister and Calgary Southeast MP told reporters at the announcement in Calgary’s west end.

“This is a government that believes in economically important infrastructure investments in the context of balanced budgets and low taxes. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.”