Spreading the wealth around

On Saturday, the federal government announced it will pay one-third of the cost of replacing the Johnson Street Bridge to a maximum of $21 million. So, if we add that number to how much infrastructure stimulus funding the Liberals say Victoria has gotten already, it looks like New Democrat parliamentarian Denise Savoie constituency will be receiving up to $22.35 million from the Harper administration. That would it among the top money-getting constituencies in British Columbia. So doesn't that undercut the Grits' argument that the Harper administration is giving more dollars to Conservative-held ridings? Speaking yesterday on Public Eye Radio, Ms. Savoie responded, "It may. Because I have to say from the beginning, when I spoke to (Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities Minister John Baird) about this particular project, he expressed interest right away. So that was months ago. That was early last year. There was no sense - and every time I met with him about this project, he indicated that he was very interested in funding it." That being said, though, Ms. Savoie added the criteria for getting such funding could have "more transparent."