By Scott Van Voorhis, Engineering News Record; February 14, 2018
A shrinking budget deficit is usually good news, but a drop in federal debt in Canada is raising concerns over delays in government efforts to funnel infrastructure money into projects. The country’s federal deficit is poised to drop by $1.1 billion, mainly due to government delays in keeping up with ambitious infrastructure spending pledges, says a report by the Parliamentary Budget Office. Only about half of the $2.9 billion budgeted for infrastructure in 2016-2017 actually got out the door.
The report comes as the government prepares to release in March its budget for the coming year; it previously pledged to spend more than $142 billion over the next decade on everything from new roads to affordable housing. “There is some anticipation and reservations about how quickly the dollars are getting to the projects,” said Matti Siemiatycki, an associate planning professor at the University of Toronto.
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