Public Private Partnerships In Canada

In a public-private partnership, or P3, a private, for-profit corporation assumes control over the design, construction, financing and operation of public infrastructure and services. P3s have been used in Canada since the early 1990s, but they are now so common that they have become the standard way in which multimillion-dollar projects and services are delivered across the country. There are now more than two hundred P3 projects in this country, with contract lengths from twenty to ninety-nine years. The problem? P3s fundamentally transform public infrastructure, public services, labour relations, public sectors and the everyday lives of Canadians. While contracting out services is supposed to save money, P3s often cost more in the long run and are host to poor working conditions and confidentiality and accountability issues. And in the end, it is us, the public, who foots the bill for these increasing costs, essentially subsidizing corporate investments for services that our governments used to provide.

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) promise much and present an exciting policy option. Yet as this Handbook reveals there is still much debate about the meaning of partnership, and the degree to which potential advantages are in fact being delivered. In this timely Handbook, leading scholars from around the world explore the challenges presented by infrastructure PPPs, and contemplate what lies ahead as governments balance the need to provide innovative new infrastructure against the requirement for good public governance. This Handbook builds on a range of exciting theoretical lenses that span several disciplinary boundaries. It presents innovative insights and informed perspectives from an international base of empirical evidence. This essential Handbook will prove an invaluable reference work for academics, advanced post-graduate students and commentators of PPPs, as well as professionals, infrastructure regulators and government policy advisors.

Levy demystifies public-private partnerships as an innovative solution to the challenges of designing, financing, building, and operating major infrastructure projects.

This timely new book provides an international perspective on Public Private Partnerships. Through 21 case studies, it investigates the existing and fast developing body of principles and practices from a wide range of countries and is the first book to bring together leading international academics and practitioners under a common framework that enables convenient cross-country comparisons. The authors focus on the impact of the financial crisis has had on how governments have reviewed and overhauled their PPP policies as they have examined or tested new ways of partnering more effectively, efficiently and sustainably with the private sector. Readers will be able to gauge the level of maturity of PPP development in the book’s case studies, understand similarities and differences in their practices, and gain useful insights into the regulatory framework and institutional infrastructure in place to support implementation of PPP. Finally, the book offers insights into the future challenges and opportunities that PPP offers stakeholders.