The federal government has vowed to keep spending under tight control, but critics are taking aim at some of Ottawa's funding announcements.
The questions come a day after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty released his fiscal update, revealing the government won't meet its own deficit reduction targets by $5 billion.
Over the past two days, the Conservatives have dished out more than $37 million across Canada.
On Wednesday, Ottawa announced it was pouring $125,000 in the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council of Canada to help promote top quality Canadian pet food products.
That's not the only bone the government threw that day. More than $1 million was given to Kinnikinnick Bakery in Edmonton to help promote the company's gluten-free products.
Snowmobile clubs in Saguenay-Lac St-Jean, Quebec are using hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants to buy snow groomers for trail maintenance, which they say will help boost tourism to the region.
And over in Saskatchewan, tennis courts are being spruced up at a cost of almost $23,000 in federal funds.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation can't understand the government's rationale, and believes ordinary Canadians can't either.
"On one hand, you have government workers coming home and telling their families that they could be out of a job – and on the other, you have Conservative MPs handing cheques for tennis courts, snowmobiles, and pet food – it doesn't add up," CTF director Gregory Thomas told Global National correspondent Mike Le Couteur.
"It's up to the government to tighten its belt and balance the budget... Not to run around throwing money away."
While government officials are staying tight-lipped on all the spending, they are pointing to their track record. Conservative MP Pierre Polievre said, "Our deficit is the smallest in the all of the G7 as a share of our economy – and at the same time, we've managed to create 800,000 net new jobs."
Flaherty has blamed Tuesday's revised budget numbers on external factors like the a fragile world economy and a drop in commodity prices.
But the opposition parties argue Canada's predicament exposes a major weakness. NDP finance critic Peggy Nash said the government continues to miss its own financial targets and is "ignoring the warning signs" that continue to emerge in the Canadian economy.
"We've got a very unbalanced economy. We're heavily focused on the commodity sector, and when you put all eggs in one basket – that's a pretty fragile basket – so we've been calling for a more balanced economy," she said Wednesday.
The NDP is calling for a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar plan to invest in infrastructure projects across the country, such as roads and transit, that could potentially add billions more to the deficit. However, the party says the investments would create quality jobs and spur the sluggish Canadian economy.
"They have no contingency plan in spite of the challenges to jobs and to our economy," Nash said. "They don't seem to have a plan to get this economy back on track and we think that should be very concerning to all Canadians."
Critics contend if the economy is getting tougher, the government should tighten its own belt to balance the budget, instead of handing out cheques.
