The report that we produced a couple of weeks ago was fairly explicit in stating that we were measuring “projects identified”, as opposed to “money spent”, for exactly that reason. When a project is identified and a contract or terms and conditions are agreed to and there's a transfer agreement in place with the federal government, work can start. It's effectively like a letter of credit. It doesn't mean that nothing happens until the money comes back.
On February 21st, 2017. See this statement in context.