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If you’re coming to commit $186.7 billion ... you better know where this money is being spent

Three years later, however, the program has fulfilled few of its lofty ambitions. The initial rollout of the program was hobbled by delays, forcing Department of Finance officials to push billions worth of planned spending into the future. Ottawa’s budget watchdog found gaping holes in how spending was being tracked and reported, revealing a program that seems to lack organization and transparency. Meanwhile, provincial spending on infrastructure, long expected to rise in tandem with the federal plan, have instead fallen, wiping out a key assumption in the Liberal plan.

The expected economic benefits have also failed to materialize. In the 2016 federal budget, the Liberal government estimated the infrastructure program would raise Canadian GDP by 0.4 per cent in fiscal 2017-18. An August report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates the program actually increased GDP between just 0.13 and 0.16 per cent.

These shortfalls in both bucks spent and bang delivered could cast doubt on the plan as the Liberals enter their 2019 re-election bid. But they also raise deeper questions about whether government can effectively channel this sort of sprawling infrastructure commitment into real-life, tangible economic gains. And beneath all of that, an even murkier question: after the billions have been spent, how can we actually measure whether the program’s been a success?

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Flaws in the program emerged almost as soon as it was rolled out, exposing Ottawa to waves of criticism on a file that typically provides nothing but good news. Unlike some of the more centralized infrastructure programs that preceded it, the Liberal plan was spread across 32 different departments and agencies, each responsible for its own individual pool of money.