Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is what we call in Canada “just-in-time delivery”. I apologize. It has been one of those days. Good afternoon, and thank you all for inviting me to come to speak to you today. I'd like to speak a little bit about Canada's public-private partnerships, or P3, experience, the role of the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships and the opportunities we see to expand and strengthen the effectiveness of P3s across Canada, and to take advantage of Canada's experience and expertise and take it global.

Government Operations committee  I think at the heart of it is a large infrastructure deficit in Canada. That's prompting a really serious look at how to address that issue, and again we're in a time of fiscal challenge, so that requires a really good look at possible approaches. Which are the most innovative ones?

Government Operations committee  I would say the research is excellent. The slice of it that was used to prepare that article would lend itself to interpretations of the kind that maybe you and others—

Government Operations committee  I will quickly defer to others, but what I would say again, with respect to the U of T research, and we know the researcher well, is that it comes back to Mike's point that the analysis around cost is done on the front-end construction costs as opposed to whole-of-life costs. If you look at Matti's work and his own recommendations, in fact what he's saying is that, done properly, and where value for money is demonstrated, P3 is the way to go.

Government Operations committee  That's probably a question I would turn over to Michael.

Government Operations committee  Let me just make one comment on the procurement models that are used. In Ontario, it's Infrastructure Ontario; in British Columbia, it's Partnerships BC. Those particular approaches to infrastructure development are highly sought after internationally. There are a number of countries around the world that are looking to move ahead with the P3 approach to infrastructure development, but they don't have either the capacity to do it or a good enough appreciation of how you put in place a framework to enable it to happen.

Government Operations committee  I have just one final point. I think in the case of smaller projects there's also the opportunity to bundle them together, where it makes sense, so that in fact you do have a large enough overall project and a critical mass to enable you to go ahead with a traditional approach to P3s.

Government Operations committee  There are several features that are really differentiators in the Canadian context. First and foremost are our procurement agencies across Canada. The creation of those agencies is in fact a unique feature. There are no other countries that have subnational procurement agencies engaged in this space.

Government Operations committee  There are 180 projects.

Government Operations committee  I think that will be possible.

Government Operations committee  We have 180 projects.

Government Operations committee  There are some governments that have been strong uptakers, if you like, of this particular model. What we're finding now is that the marketplace is growing. The provinces that have not been engaged in P3 approaches are now looking very seriously at this. Saskatchewan would be the most immediate case in point that is moving ahead with a number of P3 projects.

Government Operations committee  I just wanted to pick up on Hugh's point that there are some who believe that it's good to go ahead with a P3 because they won't have to worry about the funding, but in fact that's very much the wrong reason to go ahead with a P3, and we would never encourage that. When you move ahead with a public-private partnership, the debt obligation is on your books right from the outset.

Government Operations committee  I just wanted to add that while the role of the council is to promote greater uptake of public-private partnerships and innovative approaches to infrastructure development and service delivery through public-private partnerships with all levels of government, the reality is that P3s are not the be-all and end-all.

Government Operations committee  Good morning, and thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a pleasure for me, of course, to be here this morning to appear before this committee on behalf of the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships and to speak a little bit about three things: I want to talk about the P3 market in Canada; I'd like to talk about the role of the council; and I want to talk about the opportunity to take Canada's growing P3 experience and expertise global.