OTTAWA — The federal Conservatives are fighting back with some stimulus number-crunching of their own, after enduring a week of Liberal accusations of pork-barrelling.
The Tories are highlighting how they have spent billions of taxpayer dollars on major infrastructure projects mainly in opposition ridings.
In charts provided to The Canadian Press, government officials note in particular that the major infrastructure component of the Building Canada program has allocated $1.4 billion to large projects in opposition ridings in Ontario, and just $436 million to Conservative ridings.
“This particular fund supports major projects, typically in major municipalities that tend to be represented by opposition members,” said Chris Day, spokesman for Transport Minister John Baird.
“We have different funds for different purposes. It’s wrong to highlight one fund, as the opposition has been doing, and carry that trend.”