R Seau: Ottawa Outlays and Montr Al

r seau: So last week's report by the Parliamentary Budget Office PBO criticizing the slow pace of Ottawa outlays on its vaunted infrastructure intentions might not be quite the negative it is described as, according to The Toronto Star. Not until last week did the Grits' new Canada Infrastructure Bank make its first investment, in Montr al's R seau express m tropolitain REM . The feds' 1.28-billion loan toward the 6.3-billion electric passenger rail network makes possible Montr al's biggest public-transit project in half a century. Sums that large invite fears of wasteful spending on white elephants, and of skills shortages and inflationary wage gains. Elsewhere in the country though, a significant 3.6 billion of the 10 billion in the Liberals' first phase of infrastructure investments remains unspent. The PBO notes that those governments appear to be holding back on such projects due to budgetary pressures. But a Liberal government that stands accused of reneging on a centrepiece promise is reliant on planned provincial and municipal infrastructure improvements, to which federal financing is tied. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.