In the last week of August 2015, with a federal election campaign underway regardless of whether Canadians were willing to interrupt their summer plans to pay attention, the Liberal Party — in third place in most polls and eager to set itself apart — announced a policy that diverged sharply from those of its opponents: party leader Justin Trudeau promised a hefty rise in infrastructure spending over the next decade, aimed at jolting the faltering Canadian economy. And despite the received electoral wisdom about the importance of balanced budgets, he pledged to fund it, in part, by running deficits.
When Trudeau took office as prime minister later that fall, the spending plan became a centrepiece of his mandate, totalling a mammoth $186.7 billion over 12 years.
That enormous pool of money came alongside lofty ambitions: It would reinvigorate Canada’s aging roadways and bridges, expand public transit, build green energy assets and widen access to social housing in the North, among other things. The plan amounts to roughly $5,186 for every Canadian citizen over the next decade. The C.D. Howe Institute, a think tank, called the program one of the biggest infrastructure commitments in Canadian history.