Transport committee  I think I'm drawing on my formal education in public administration as well as having worked for the government. I think I would always advocate for greater transparency, not less, in any of the activities of government or a government agency. I would certainly advocate in suppor

Transport committee  I'm very familiar with the project, since we delivered it. The project involved the design, build or construction, finance and building maintenance and life cycle of the 18 schools. It's actually nine facilities with two schools per facility. The Saskatchewan model is quite uniqu

Transport committee  I think it's a very simple answer. Advance projects such that they are shovel-ready. As soon as they are shovel-ready that is how you are going to generate the jobs and employment that the infrastructure can support. I think you're absolutely right, as we move forward and I thi

Transport committee  As I think I laid out in my opening comments, certainly from Concert Infrastructure's perspective, investment in infrastructure is critical and important. I think I did state that we certainly support the government's $180-billion commitment. I think you're right to point out tha

Transport committee  Again, I think you have to recognize my earlier comment around the fact that the CIB itself is not ultimately responsible for the delivery of these projects, right? They're relying on their partners, whether they be provincial or municipal, for the actual procurement and delivery

Transport committee  I think one of the key distinctions to draw here is that in each of the projects the CIB has committed to, they are not ultimately responsible for the procurement, the construction, the delivery of that infrastructure. They are strictly providing funding and financing to those pr

Transport committee  Insofar as we have auditors general who say it's more expensive, we have others who have proven that it's more effective and efficient. Again, it's really around the risk premium and assumptions that governments make around the risk of delivering these projects, whether it's dela

Transport committee  Sure. I think the most obvious difference is the P3 assessment screen, which I've referred to previously. P3 Canada or PPP Canada had that screen in place prior to 2015 for any federal infrastructure project investment that was greater than $100 million, so those potential projec

Transport committee  I wasn't personally involved in applying the screen and how that worked, so I don't think I could specifically comment on what the impact of timelines would be.

Transport committee  That's a great question. Just to be clear, at Concert there are two separate organizations. One is Concert realty corporation, the other is Concert Infrastructure. I am responsible for the leadership of Concert Infrastructure, so I don't have direct involvement in the real estate

Transport committee  I would just say that at this point in time, sure, the government can borrow at 1.5% or whatever rate, but that rate won't hold forever. I think it's reasonable to assume that the rate goes up. At the end of the day, this is about risk premium and the value, whether in cost eff

Transport committee  As I've laid out, investment in infrastructure is critical to a strong performing economy and economic growth, whether it's the jobs it creates or the efficiency and productivity that result from that infrastructure. It's absolutely important, at this stage, to continue forward w

Transport committee  We've touched on these issues in previous questions, but my best suggestion around increasing infrastructure investment is to mandate the CIB to have a responsibility and leadership over the federal government's own infrastructure and capital projects or commitments it's making w

Transport committee  Based upon the details that I've seen and the timing commitments [Technical difficulty—Editor], that's the conclusion I come to. There may be further details that suggest otherwise. From my perspective, and others I know in the industry, that's certainly a perspective.

Transport committee  I wouldn't necessarily conclude that it has failed in its objectives. Is it delayed in its objectives? I think that's probably fair. As they lay out...for themselves in their corporate plan, there are very objective measures in terms of performance. I think it's important that g