Environment Minister Catherine McKenna speaks outside of EnviroCentre as part of a funding announcement on Sept. 5, 2019. Photo taken by iPolitics reporter Charlie Pinkerton.

The Trudeau government announced more than $2.4 billion dollars in funding and investments last week, in a blitz of announcements right before the election is set to start, an iPolitics analysis reveals.

In four days from Sept. 3 to 6, Trudeau’s team made scores of announcements across the country — pledging financial support for projects running the gamut from rural road repairs to the expansion of a Saskatchewan sports complex, as Canadians awaited the writ drop that officially launches the fall campaigns. (The current timetable indicates that happening, at the latest, this Sunday.)

READ MORE: Goodale announces $57 million to combat human trafficking on cusp of election

Some of the money committed last week was a repayable investment; some was given as part of joint funding commitments with other jurisdictions; some of the money was from funding laid out for specific purposes in the budget, infrastructure streams, or other existing funding pools. Other sums were new, like a $57-million human trafficking announcement. Some of the sums that the government announced are to be spread out over multiple years, or were indicated to be an ongoing, annual commitment. Some of the announcements highlighted money the government already gave.

The marathon of pledges didn’t begin last week; an ongoing Global News analysis recently determined that the federal government made 330 spending commitments, totalling $2.85 billion, in the period from Aug. 19 to Aug. 25. The outlet reported that the “pace and scale” of Trudeau’s funding announcements were “significantly greater” than those made by the Harper government in 2015.

Pauline Beange, who teaches comparative parties, elections and campaigns for the University of Toronto, told iPolitics on Friday that the ongoing funding frenzy is indicative of Trudeau’s Liberals “pushing the boundaries,” saying the mentality appeared similar to their handling of the recent affair surrounding SNC-Lavalin.

“We have not seen the governing party push it to the same extent as the Liberals are now doing,” Beange said, discussing the pre-campaign spending in an interview. “The governing party always has an advantage — always, always — because it can announce spending in whatever riding, on whatever topic, it sees fit. That will either bolster its already-supporters, or attract new ones,” she said.

Some of the announcements last week took place in ridings with close outcomes in the last election. Parks Canada announced an infrastructure investment in Point Pelee National Park, for example. Leamington, the Ontario location attached to the press release, was Conservative-won in the last federal election — with 41.7 per cent of eligible votes cast, versus the Liberals’ 37.2 per cent.

Some announcements were in ridings the Liberals won handily. Two London, Ont. representatives — for the ridings of London North Centre and London West — announced a $4.1 million investment into a local theatre on Thursday. London North Centre was a Liberal win in 2015 with 50.5 per cent of votes, with the next closest candidate, a Conservative, pulling in 31.1 per cent. London West was also Liberal-won by a decent margin, with the Liberal candidate pulling in 45.8 per cent to the Conservatives’ 35.3 per cent.

The government announced more than $39.1 million last week for wastewater treatment infrastructure in Glace Bay, N.S, at an event attended by the MPs for Cape Breton-Canso and Sydney-Victoria. The pair of representatives won their seats last time around by a decisive 73.2 per cent and 74.4 per cent of the vote, respectively.

But announcements also took place on former losing grounds, with two announcements about projects in Prince Albert, Sask. — a riding the Liberals lost in 2015 with just 19.8 per cent of votes, bested by the Conservatives’ 49.8 per cent and the NDP’s 28.5 per cent.

While some of the money last week was for endeavours that crossed provincial or territorial boundaries, some was pledged for initiatives within specific jurisdictions. More than $262 million was pledged specifically for British Columbia, more than $76 million for Alberta, $93 million plus for Saskatchewan, and more than 30 million for Manitoba. Continuing across the country, more than $230 million was pledged for Ontario, and for Quebec, more than $130 million. At announcements in Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia received spending commitments of more than $87 million, New Brunswick more than $2 million, Prince Edward Island more than $5 million, and Newfoundland and Labrador more than $9 million.

One airport runway project in Northwest Territories received up to $150 million over five years, while Nunavut was promised around $425,000 for a project on coastal environment research. Two Yukon infrastructure funding packages totalled more than $137 million pledged. Infrastructure Canada promised approximately $425 million Canada-wide; Transport Canada added around $320 million.

Looking at last week’s sums, Beange said the Liberals’ actions bolster the idea that the formal, post-writ campaign period is “increasingly a very artificial time.”

“We have seen all of the parties actively campaigning since at the very least the beginning of July,” she said.

“So what political scientists are calling this is, it’s not an election campaign, it’s a permanent campaign in between elections … the official election period is really a very artificial date.”

Jonathan Rose, a Queen’s University professor specializing in Canadian politics, political communication and advertising, noted in an email to iPolitics on Friday that last week’s funding spree reinforced the challenge of defining what is and isn’t partisan.

“There are rules around (government) advertising prior to an election because there is a recognition that advertising might be seen as priming the electorate to the governing party’s agenda,” he said.

“I would think that the spending on large funding announcements should also follow the same logic.”

He cautioned, however, that many of the announcements may have been in the works for years, and would therefore be “part of the normal course of what governments do.”

Beange acknowledged the same fact as Rose, but alleged that the number of announcements taking place this late in a governance cycle spoke to “sloppy governance” by the party in power.

“There has been discussion about well, ‘X’ number of dollars was promised to infrastructure over the last four years,” she acknowledged.

“Why has so much just sat in the pot, and not been allocated until now?”