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CCCA_V3No1_P3-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 1/21/09 2:55 PM Page 20 Cover A roaring market P3 is heating up across the country. Infrastructure Ontario is one of three provincial agencies — the others are Partnerships BC and the agence des partenariats public-privé du Québec (PPP Québec) — that have been created in order to set up, promote, implement and govern (not to mention streamline) these complex deals. The Building Canada Fund, part of the last federal budget,is billed as the country’s new flagship infrastructure program, allocating funds to major projects in the provinces and territories.In Ontario alone,“we have shov- els in the ground on 22 projects, representing some $7.5 billion in construction,” says Pattison. This healthy P3 market is a reflection, in part, of an infrastructure deficit in Canada “north of $100 billion that has been ignored for at least a generation,” says Mark Bain, a partner at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto and a director of the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships. “P3s are really a subset of the overall infrastructure push.” Even in the wake of the global credit crisis,with restrict- ed access to debt markets and wary lenders, lawyers remain optimistic that P3s will continue to thrive. Infrastructure spending is a cornerstone of new U.S. President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan, and the Harper govern- ment’s next federal budget is expected to include infra- structure spending as well. P3s figure to play a major role in these developments. With the Highway 30 deal behind him, Jodoin believes P3 will be favoured in the current market.“These deals have a first-rate contracting partner: the government. In times of uncertainty, that is very significant for bankers and lenders.” Bain holds a similar view.“With the dramatic reversal in the credit market and the need to get some economic activ- ity going,infrastructure will be a higher priority than ever,” he says.“And P3,being a recognized way to get things done faster and for higher value,” will continue to thrive — but with more equity,less debt,more government co-financing, and more short-term, rather than long-term, financing. “There’s still a lot of available capital in the world that is looking for a good and stable home, and a government- backed project is almost the best long-term stable financial commitment people can ask for. So I think the markets for these projects will open up earlier and more easily than perhaps almost anything else.” Corporate counsel’s role At corporations and organizations in the P3 market, in- Gigi Chen-Kuo General Counsel house counsel play integral if varying roles.The size of the TransLink legal department, the scope of counsel’s jurisdiction, areas ROBERT KARPA Vancouver of expertise, and experience dealing with P3s will factor 20