Prime Minister Stephen Harper tabled a report that said that 90 per cent of the funding for the 2009 stimulus has been committed and that of the 7,500+ projects that are on the drawing board across the country, 4,000 have actually begun. At the beginning of the year the government's budget provided a $40 billion stimulus to be spent over two years. The government believed that the stimulus would create or protect 265,000 jobs by the end of 2010.
The stimulus included almost $12 billion in new infrastructure stimulus funding for roads, bridges, broadband internet access, electronic health records, laboratories and border crossings and $7.8 billion to build quality housing, stimulate construction and enhance energy efficiency.
Canada's Economic Action Plan (Jan 27)
2009 2010 Total
(millions of C$—cash basis)
Help Canadians and Stimulate Spending 5,880 6,945 12,825
Stimulate Housing Construction 5,365 2,395 7,760
Housing leverage 725 750 1,475
Immediate Build Infrastructure 6,224 5,605 11,829
Infrastructure leverage 4,532 4,365 8,897
Support Businesses and Communities 5,272 2,255 7,527
Sectoral leverage 1,300 1,300
Total federal stimulus 22,742 17,200 39,942
Total stimulus (with leverage) 29,298 22,316 51,613
As a share of GDP (%)
Total federal stimulus 1.5 1.1 2.5
Total stimulus (with leverage) 1.9 1.4 3.2
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