Evidence of meeting #68 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was p3s.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thank you, Mr. Moist.
You made a comment earlier, probably halfway through, and I believe the topic of questioning was on gas plants. You made a comment about how it probably cost him his job.
For clarification, and I don't like to be presumptuous, but were you meaning former Premier McGuinty?
5:15 p.m.
National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees
I was, yes.
On the Friday before the Monday, when he surprisingly resigned, or stated his intention to resign, the second cadre of redacted information was brought forward. It was 20,000 pages.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
I'm quite aware of all that.
I just wanted to clarify that he was who you meant.
5:15 p.m.
National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees
That's who I was talking about.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to speak for a moment.
As you were speaking, Mr. Moist, I was trying to get a sense of the flavour of Mr. Loxley's book.
It certainly has a slant; I'll grant it that. Some of the wordsmithing is rather interesting. It is for municipal politicians, as you indicate. With some of the advice that it gives and the warnings...I think any politician needs to be wary.
It's interesting. I'm not sure how objective it is. To be fair, I've only just looked at it, but I'll look at it with a more critical eye as I go through it.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Mr. Holder, the bells just started.
I'll let you finish your question and then I think we should go.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
Ed Holder Conservative London West, ON
I was going to ask two questions, but I won't.
You talked about the gas plant issue. I was going to say not to confuse bad policy with the mismanagement of this whole gas plant issue. It may well have cost the premier his position, and others as well, and that's just a tragedy.
My question would be to Mr. Stoney, if I could. You say you're a pragmatist and I accept that totally at face value. I would like to ask where you think P3s make practical sense to be put in place.
I'm done, Chair, and I'll say thank you.
5:15 p.m.
Associate Professor, School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University, As an Individual
Basically, I think it's when they can pass the test of a value-for-money audit. If it shows that there are significant savings over doing this in-house or through the public service, then I think they should be considered.
As I said, it's also if they don't contravene any of the areas that I specified earlier. In particular, if it's sole-sourced, under no circumstances should we ever get into that again. That's your job, and that's where councillors come in, and the provinces have to regulate these things. We know they need a degree of commercial confidentiality, but there has to be good governance around them or the public won't accept them.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thank you very much, Mr. Stoney and Mr. Moist.
With the witness we had here today, that's the first time we've experienced that.
Thanks for coming.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
The meeting is adjourned.