RC104 JanFeb2023 - Magazine - Page 4
EDITOR’S NOTE
JANUARY/FEBRUARY2023
VOLUME 21 NUMBER 1
HEAD GAMES
EDITOR
John Tenpenny
CONTENT DIRECTOR
Corinne Lynds
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jen Smith
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Connie Vitello
ART DIRECTOR AND SENIOR DESIGNER
Gordon Alexander
CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS
Satvinder Flore, Benjamin Koczwarski,
James K. Little, Natasha R. Rodrigues,
Dwayne Torrey
by John Tenpenny
HAS THE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP or P3, become a four-letter word?
Recent news on a pair of transit projects in Ontario being delivered under the P3
model has been harsh in its criticism and even questioned whether governments
should use the model at all.
First up is the 19-kilometre Eglinton Crosstown LRT project in Toronto, which was
supposed to be finished by the end of 2022, but now won’t be up and running until
at least the end of 2023, according to Metrolinx.
“Unfortunately, while progress has been made, Crosslinx Transit Solutions have
fallen behind schedule, are unable to finalize construction and testing, and therefore
the system will not be operational on this timeline,” said Metrolinx president and
CEO Phil Verster in a statement.
According to a report from CBC News, confidential records “paint a picture of
how unresolved issues between the two provincial agencies involved in the project
and the consortium building it are contributing to delays. They outline concerns
Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario (IO) have about the quality of some work completed, “over-ambitious” timelines and the lack of a plan to complete the LRT.”
The recently released report from the Ottawa LRT Public Inquiry made similar statements in its findings, saying “there were persistent failures in leadership, partnership
and communications in the construction and maintenance of the Ottawa LRT.”
Commissioner Justice William Hourigan laid blame at the feet of both the private
consortium, Rideau Transit Group (RTG), and the City of Ottawa, saying RTG lost
sight of the public’s best interest during the project and that Ottawa City Council
was not told the testing criteria for the LRT was lowered to allow it to pass its final
testing phase.
Justice Hourigan also said governments and public procurement agencies should
examine whether to use a P3 or another model when building complex infrastructure
projects.
Around the same time, the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships
(CCPPP) was celebrating the 30th edition of their P3 Conference in Toronto.
In her opening keynote address, CCPPP president and CEO Lisa Mitchell told the
audience the model is still relevant.
“I believe not only in the viability but in the superiority of the P3 model,” she
stated. “And yeah, it’s been knocked around a bit, but it hasn’t been knocked down
or knocked out.”
Should a couple of bad experiences taint P3s going forward, or should the model
have been given an opportunity, based on its 30-plus-year track record of producing many successful outcomes for both the public and private sectors? Many of the
projects on this year’s Top100 Projects report are tracking towards success using P3s
(See article on page 12).
In the wake of these setbacks, all parties involved should take a step back and
realize that collaboration and public interest should be at the heart of the relationship
between the public entity and private-sector partners when building large infrastructure projects.
Don’t hate the model. Hate the players.
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