Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal, Conservative candidates spar over infrastructure spending 

The Liberal Party and Conservative Party candidates in the Windsor-Tecumseh riding exchanged barbs Thursday over the Conservative Party's platform to reduce infrastructure spending by $18 billion.

Liberal candidate Irek Kusmierczyk began the day by holding a media conference highlighting a Liberal promise to invest "over $30 million in funding for Windsor's disaster mitigation and adaptation fund."

"A re-elected Liberal government would add an additional $1 billion over the next decade to the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund, so communities have a proactive, permanent and sustainable way to address the threats of climate change," he said. 

In the same speech, Kusmierczyk said he was "deeply concerned that Andrew Scheer's Conservatives have promised, not just threatened, but promised to cut $18 billion of local infrastructure investment across the country."

In a separate media conference held later in the day, Windsor-Tecumseh Conservative candidate Leo Demarce denounced Kusmierczyk's claims, saying that a Conservative government would "respect the funding commitments that have been made, including the $32 million pledged to the City of Windsor under the disaster mitigation and adaptation fund."

When asked about the $18 billion figure, Demarce said the number was "false."

I don't know where he's getting that number from ...- Leo Demarce, Windsor-Tecumseh Conservative Party candidate

"I don't know where he's getting that number from, maybe he needs to have his sources checked," Demarce said. 

Demarce reiterated that a Conservative government would honour existing infrastructure funding promises, adding that if elected, he would be a voice that would put a stop to government investing in foreign nations.

"The Liberal Government is promising to spend its way into bankruptcy as they promote debt ratios in comparison to other countries, claiming that it's okay to threaten our future and the well-being of our future generations, while they give generously to foreign countries," Demarce said. 

For members of the University of Ottawa's Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD), the Conservative Party's promise to reduce infrastructure does amount to a cut. 

"And it's a cut, because any time you take money and you move it from a current year into a future year, the certainty of money being available down the road goes down," said Sahir Khan, executive vice president of the IFSD.