I'm counselling caution so that doesn't end up being the case. But some of the approval processes for federal application-based funding programs can reach three or four years. That is a very real cost to capital. Every day that public funds sit in Ottawa, rather than being invested in economically productive infrastructure, produces an opportunity cost.
But you're right, I certainly don't have empirical evidence other than to point to the $6 billion in reprofiled money, in part because of extensive approval processes.