Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and MP Gerard Kennedy say a small fraction of the hundreds of infrastructure projects promised by the Conservatives to create jobs have actually got off the ground.

Only small fraction of the hundreds of infrastructure projects promised by the Conservative government to create jobs have actually got off the ground, and many of those are in Tory ridings, Liberals claim.

Infrastructure Minister John Baird, however, said those claims are wrong and misleading.

The Liberals have rejected claims by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that 80 per cent of the $4-billion set aside for immediate job-creating infrastructure projects are underway. Instead, the Liberals say, their research shows only 12 per cent of the projects were underway and generating jobs.

"It's not only that the money isn’t getting out — where it’s getting out, it’s going systematically toward Conservative ridings," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff charged Thursday.

Standing in an undeveloped park in Burlington, Ont., Ignatieff said the Tories have made a number of announcements about projects, but nothing is getting done.

"This is one example among thousands where they announce something and nothing happens — and nothing is going to happen,” Ignatieff said. "They’ve missed the whole construction season, and Canadian workers are not going to be employed by press releases.”

Gerard Kennedy, the Liberal critic for infrastructure and communities, said he conducted an analysis of 946 infrastructure stimulus projects out of a total of 1,697 announced. He said his research also indicates Conservatives are directing projects to Tory ridings

For example, Kennedy said, in British Columbia, Conservative ridings had been allocated 13 times as much money as opposition-held ridings. In Quebec, 2.7 times as much money went to Tory ridings, he claimed. In Ontario, Conservative ridings got 11 per cent more than opposition ridings, he said.

He said 14 of the 16 announcements the prime minister has made were about infrastructure projects previously planned or won’t be built for years.

Baird countered that 75 per cent of all projects slated to begin this year are underway, adding it's always been clear that it was a two-year infrastructure stimulus plan.

He said the Liberal numbers are wrong, their claims are an unwarranted attack, and that the accusations of wrongdoing also implicate the provinces and municipalities, who are partners in the infrastructure projects.

"The Liberal facts are just plain wrong," Baird said. "The simple fact is the federal government is funding municipal projects identified as priorities and managed by those same municipalities. We trust municipal leaders, we trust municipal governments across the country."

Pierre Poilievre, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, told CBC News that municipalities can begin building any time they want and that the federal government will pay the bills within 30 days of receiving an invoice.

As for Tory ridings getting more money, Poilievre said the claims are not credible, adding that the riding getting the most money in Ontario held by the New Democrats.

He also said construction on the park in Burlington where Ignatieff and Kennedy held their news conference is not slated to begin until May 2010.

With files from The Canadian Press