A P3, "Private-Public Partnership", is when the government involves a third party, profit driven company in virtually any kind of project as a vaguely-equal partner.
The involvement of the private sector, in the case of ION, is the rather extensive Design-Build-finance-Maintain-Operate, but in practice can be limited to single one, or some combination of those.
The alternative to P3s, is that government keeps all the work in-house, employing all of the various experts and contractors directly. The TTC is an example, where all their work on the streetcar network is all done in-house, and it's paid for through government debt.
P3s came to the fore in the 90s, (particularly under Mike Harris) as a solution to governments becoming particularly cash-strapped. Private companies were invited to have an ownership stake, or at least, some manner of control over the project, in exchange for the government no longer having to train and retain its own staff, or put all the money upfront through tax receipts. Basically contracting out various pieces the work.
P3s got a really bad rap through this era, as the deals signed gave away large pieces of infrastructure at bargain prices (the 407 being a famous example), at minimal benefit to the public. The driving force for using P3s at the time was ideological, and government getting out of the business of Designing/Building/Financing/Maintaining/Operating was largely its own reward, as government is believed to be never efficient at doing anything in those circles.
Kitchener's Old-New-City-Hall (The red brick Sunlife tower) is a similar case of a bad P3. Kitchener traded a Capital investment (land) for a limited time lease on a new building. Once the lease was up, Kitchener was left with nothing but continuing rent increases.
These days P3s are usually written a lot better. But since the private companies are no longer getting sweetheart deals in the fine print, they have to put in larger cost-escalations up front to serve as profit for the company, and cover potential cost overruns.
The involvement of the private sector, in the case of ION, is the rather extensive Design-Build-finance-Maintain-Operate, but in practice can be limited to single one, or some combination of those.
The alternative to P3s, is that government keeps all the work in-house, employing all of the various experts and contractors directly. The TTC is an example, where all their work on the streetcar network is all done in-house, and it's paid for through government debt.
P3s came to the fore in the 90s, (particularly under Mike Harris) as a solution to governments becoming particularly cash-strapped. Private companies were invited to have an ownership stake, or at least, some manner of control over the project, in exchange for the government no longer having to train and retain its own staff, or put all the money upfront through tax receipts. Basically contracting out various pieces the work.
P3s got a really bad rap through this era, as the deals signed gave away large pieces of infrastructure at bargain prices (the 407 being a famous example), at minimal benefit to the public. The driving force for using P3s at the time was ideological, and government getting out of the business of Designing/Building/Financing/Maintaining/Operating was largely its own reward, as government is believed to be never efficient at doing anything in those circles.
Kitchener's Old-New-City-Hall (The red brick Sunlife tower) is a similar case of a bad P3. Kitchener traded a Capital investment (land) for a limited time lease on a new building. Once the lease was up, Kitchener was left with nothing but continuing rent increases.
These days P3s are usually written a lot better. But since the private companies are no longer getting sweetheart deals in the fine print, they have to put in larger cost-escalations up front to serve as profit for the company, and cover potential cost overruns.