
MMM Infra Blog No. 9 23 October 2024
In August of this year, the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP) published a very interesting report, entitled Modernising Canada's Approach to Public Private Partnerships (P3s): CCPPPs New Recommendations, available at https://www.pppcouncil.ca/getattachment/682359d1-7854-474a-bc75-092cd04eca25/Modernizing-Canada%E2%80%99s-Approach-to-P3s_FINAL_July-31.pdf.
The CCPPP report makes the argument that Public-Private Partnerships (known as P3s in Canada) are needed more than ever before, to meet Canada’s growing requirements for private sector infrastructure investment. At the same time, the report acknowledges that PPPs need to evolve, so as to achieve better project outcomes and enhance their value for taxpayers.
The report offers eight key recommendations, applicable to both the public and the private partners in a PPP transaction. In summary, the recommendations are as follows:
Limitations on the ‘fiscal space’ of governments (due to shrinking revenues and a reluctance to increase taxes) means that more private capital is needed to deliver required infrastructure projects, using the PPP model.
Since PPPs are multi-year contracts which force the parties to ‘think long-term’, they are ideally suited to deal with resiliency issues that are of increasing concern in 21st Century economies.
PPPs are supposed to be partnerships. Accordingly, less-rigid and more nimble approaches should be taken in respect of risk allocation. (In my opinion, this is the key recommendation in the report).
Governments should see themselves as “industrial owners” of their PPP projects, with a vested interest in the long-term success of each project. This involves active oversight and contract management by the government partner.
Complex projects may require variations to the traditional PPP model. In some instances, it may be appropriate to use a “Progressive P3” approach, where the government selects the private partner at a relatively early stage of project development.
Very large projects might be more achievable if broken up into smaller phases, in order to achieve a greater number of bidders and more competition.
Governments at various levels in Canada (federal, provincial and municipal) should collaborate to share best practises, and to standardise their approaches.
Governments should re-examine their procurement procedures, to allow for earlier engagements with prospective private sector partners.
The report’s detailed discussion of these recommendations is thought-provoking. And some of the recommendations (notably Recommendation 3) echo suggestions made by other PPP reform advocates (see, for example, the article I prepared earlier this year for the quarterly magazine of the World Association of PPP Professionals (WAPPP MAGAZINE 2024 SPRING EDITION).
The CCPPP report will be presented at the organisation’s forthcoming annual conference, to be held in Toronto in November, and I expect that the discussion of the report’s recommendations will be revealing. It is clear that the ongoing debate on the topics raised in the report will be worth following.
This blog is in a series that appears on this website. It has been written by Mark Moseley, the Principal of Moseley Infrastructure Advisory Services (Mark.Moseley@MMMInfra.com). Unless otherwise noted, the copyright in this blog is owned by Moseley Infrastructure Advisory Services. The blog is made available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence, whereby users are free to copy and redistribute the contents of the blog, if they give credit to the author, and clearly indicate any changes that have been made.

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