"So was this a good move" Yes because it was immediately stimulatory . It takes upwards of two years for Infrastructure spending to kick in, so your plan would have delayed the recovery (if you believe in Keynesian Stimulus).

It ultimately gave Provinces like Quebec (we kinda object to being called a Maritime Province BTW) room to raise QST - I always thought that was his real plan when he promised it in 2006.

In 2009  Program spending leapt $36 BN whilst Personal Tax Revenues fell $15 BN, the following year, Program spending  fell by $5BN, whilst  Personal Tax Revenues were up $18 BN.

"Are we not burdened by that debt now? " No - what "burdens us is the interest on Trudeau Père's debt - we ran two Operating deficits under Harper, the remaining deficits were caused by the inherited debt charge. The easiest way to understand is following the debt service charge from 2.3% of GDP in 2006 to 1.3% in 2014.

http://www.fin.gc.ca/frt-trf/2015/frt-trf-1501-eng.asp#tbl2