Paving the way for Tories

When the Harper Government announced an Infrastructure Stimulus Plan focused on construction-ready projects, Nova Scotia saw a golden opportunity to make headway on a huge problem: its crumbling highway system. The province sought federal approval for 39 paving projects. But Ottawa approved only 20 of the paving jobs. Since the 19 rejected projects were all but identical to the 20 that received a federal go-ahead, it's hard to figure out what criteria Ottawa used for its decisions. Until you look at a federal electoral map. Projects in ridings held by Conservative MPs were almost four times as likely to receive federal approval...