First of all, I think it's fair to say that public-private partnerships are only one tool in the toolbox. They aren't a panacea. They aren't necessarily the best way to go in meeting all of Canada's infrastructure needs.
As I am sure you are all aware, in order to go to a true public-private partnership situation, you have to guarantee a certain flow of revenue for the private sector investors. That's pretty hard to do for certain aspects of Canada's infrastructure in certain regions, particularly underpopulated regions in the country. So my best advice there is to not look to one particular approach as being the panacea or as being the tool or solution in all circumstances. Certainly, P3s have their place, and they can, as you mentioned, leverage additional investment.
However, what's more important is having a long-term plan. In this country we have never had a long-term plan for something as important as our national highway system. We never had a plan.
It's very difficult for the construction industry, as arguably one of Canada's largest employers with over a million people, to do any effective planning with our public sector clients--governments--when we don't know sometimes six months out where the priorities will be. With respect to working in partnership with lower levels of government in municipalities and provinces, that's of even more importance.
I know this government is trying to make an attempt to make funding more certain going out by extending the excise fuel tax commitment to 2013-14. That is so important. It's very difficult for municipal or provincial governments to make long-term planning with respect to infrastructure investment without knowing whether or not the federal government, or another level of government, is going to be there as a player.
That's even more important in the private sector. You are looking to attract private sector investment; the more governments can get their long-term planning and priorities in place for infrastructure renewal and reinvestment, the more you'll attract the private sector community.