U of S professor says P3s are a ‘bad idea’
David McGrane, a political studies professor at the University of Saskatchewan, has been invited by City administration in Prince Albert to speak at a public meeting Monday afternoon.
McGrane has done a lot of research on P3 partnerships and public financing of municipal projects. He believes strongly that P3s are generally a bad idea.
“The main reason why they are a bad idea is because the borrowing costs for a government are so much lower than [the] borrowing cost for the private sector,” he said.
McGrane points to a recent report by the auditor general in Ontario. The report showed that it was 14 times more expensive to have an infrastructure project that is financed by the private sector as opposed to being financed by the public sector.