Uncommitted

For all the sound and fury of the Cons' budget update roadshow, the key phrases to take away from their spin are these:

...and projects are selected or funds are flowing for federally owned infrastructure...

Funds are flowing, or have been committed, for 80 per cent of the Action Plan.

Throughout the tables in the report, the Cons draw absolutely no distinction between infrastructure projects and other stimulus measures which have merely been "selected" or announced, and ones for which a single penny has actually flowed so far. Which means that as far as they're concerned, as soon as they've held a first press conference to announce a project, their work is done.

Not that this should come as news. In case anybody's forgotten, the Cons have consistently left a massive gap between the infrastructure funding they've publicly taken credit for and what they've actually delivered.

Which means that they surely had to know that they'd be under scrutiny as to how much of their supposed plan has moved beyond PR to any real action. And in case anybody would still be inclined to give them the undeserved benefit of any doubt, let's ask this: how likely is it that the Cons would have lumped money "committed" to "selected" projects with money actually spent if the news on the latter front reflected well on them?

(In fairness, there are a few details about spending to date in the update on the Cons' $3 billion slush fund. But more money there looks to have been spent on general budget measures than on the fund's supposed purpose of infrastructure - and items like $222 million toward "strengthening Canada's nuclear advantage" can only look like a cruel joke in light of recent events.)

And as an added bonus, the Cons offer "funding to flow" start dates for every item in their report, with exactly zero details as to end dates or progress in between even for categories as broad as "infrastructure stimulus fund".

In sum, then, the Cons' report card is best seen as a poor attempt to avoid actually answering the questions which Canadians should have about how their public funds are (or aren't) being used. Which can hardly offer any reason for confidence that Harper and company should be left in power until it's too late to get any stimulus into the economy before the end of the recession.