It might look like the provincial and federal governments are shoveling money off the back off a truck, but that's not the case, said community development minister Kevin Krueger.

“These are not silly projects, any of them,” he said this morning at a spending announcement with federal minister Stockwell Day. “None of this is money shoveled off the back of a truck, as a previous premier and a previous government once said. Nothing like that.”

The federal and provincial governments will provide $110 million to small communities in B.C. to pay for infrastructure like roads, bridges and water systems, Day said.

Already 41 projects have funding approved. The only one announced today is a $14.2 million contribution to a wastewater treatment plant that will be built, no doubt by pure coincidence, in Krueger's hometown of Kamloops.

That leaves some $98 million to be divided among the 40 remaining projects, or about $2.4 million each. Whether the cash is delivered by truck or wheelbarrow, expect every penny of it to be announced between now and the May 12 provincial election.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.