Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here this morning.
My first question is for Mr. Siemiatycki.
You mentioned the profitability of P3 projects compared with traditional projects. Could you give us some more detail about the transfer of responsibility and risk?
It is difficult for me to assess the cost of realizing a P3 project combined with a maintenance program spread out over 20, 25 or 30 years, compared with the cost of a project that the government wants to carry out at the best possible cost for infrastructures that it will have built and that it is responsible for maintaining in the long term.
You mentioned an amount 16% lower for a project carried out traditionally. However, when it is a P3 project with a private company or another that will be responsible for maintaining the infrastructure for the next 30 years, might that influence the choice of materials? For example, perhaps someone is looking for more efficient and better quality equipment that will allow for long-term savings. For example, you might save energy in the long term through geothermal energy.
Could that really influence the design decisions for these infrastructures? Perhaps it is difficult today to evaluate savings that will occur over the next 30 years with respect to maintaining buildings that were constructed five years ago. Are you able to evaluate that kind of thing?