There were 41 pianos on the streets of Toronto last summer. Each one was painted in the national colors of one of the 41 countries set to participate in the 2015 Pan American Games. From “Heart and Soul” to Haydn, it was not unusual to be serenaded by pianists of varying talents while walking around in downtown Toronto during July. Three years before the start of the games, Toronto is already working to build excitement.
Of course, the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games Organizing Committee (TO2015) will need more than pianos and hype to get the games off the ground. The infrastructure needed for the games—numerous sports facilities, an athletes’ village, and an air rail link from Pearson International Airport to downtown—is considerable. To build it, TO2015 has turned to a deal structure widely used in Canada, although it’s less common in the United States. In public-private partnerships (P3s), a consortium of design-build contractors, operating companies, and equity providers generally assumes part of the financial burden of building the asset and is compensated by the government for maintaining it over the next 20–30 years before the asset reverts to government ownership. According to trade group Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships, Canada has seen some 180 P3 projects started, completed, or announced over the past 20 years, totaling an estimated $57.6 billion in value. Among the largest: a $4 billion highway extension in Toronto, a $1.7 billion light rail line in Vancouver, and a $1.6 billion hospital in Montreal. About half of P3 projects have been located in Ontario, giving a leading role to Infrastructure Ontario (IO), the agency that builds, manages, and finances that province’s public works projects.
