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OTTAWA — Infrastructure spending in the three northern territories was lower over the last two years than it would have been in the absence of the federal government’s $188-billion infrastructure program, according to another new report that raises doubt over the success of one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s signature undertakings.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer found that the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut collectively lowered their infrastructure spending levels by $111 million in 2016-17 and 2017-18, compared to what their spending plans were before the Liberal plan was introduced. The results mirror an earlier report from the PBO that showed infrastructure spending levels in the provinces had also fallen below earlier estimates.

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That lower spending in the provinces and territories contradicts a central assumption in Trudeau’s infrastructure program, which was partly rooted in the notion that higher spending at the federal level would incentivize lower orders of government to likewise allocate more money toward infrastructure. Instead, that spending appears to have been absorbed by the provinces and territories and funnelled into other budget items, like healthcare or education, for example.