My question is for Mark Romoff.
I'm interested in knowing how public-private partnerships work in practice, and in exploring the pros and cons of this approach. I was reading the brief that the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships submitted to the consultations in advance of the 2018 budget. Your organization recommends that the Government of Canada increase its education and capacity-building efforts for public-private partnerships with local governments. It says:
The ready availability of Canadian private capital to invest in public infrastructure is at the heart of the P3 success story - there are now 261 P3 projects across the country either [in operation or] under construction.... The value of those projects...[actually] exceeds $122 billion.
That brings me to my first question. What are the advantages, if any, for involving the private sector in public infrastructure investments?