Winnipeg, MB - On Friday, Mayor Sam Katz will share Winnipeg's success stories with P3s with the 21st annual National Conference on Public-Private Partnerships (P3s), presented by the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP) in Toronto.
Mayor Katz will join municipal leaders from three Canadian cities in a plenary session entitled Growing Municipal Economies Through Infrastructure Development: The Role for P3s.
The plenary session, moderated by Richard Florizone, President of Dalhousie University, will explore the role that P3s play in meeting critical infrastructure challenges. Mayor Katz will be joined on the panel by Mayor Jeff Lehman (Barrie, ON), Mayor Michael Fougere (Regina, SK), and the former Mayor of Edmonton, Stephen Mandel.
“I am tremendously proud of Winnipeg’s P3 success stories and I am looking forward to sharing them in this panel discussion,” said Mayor Katz. “The Chief Peguis Trail Extension and the recently completed Disraeli Bridges Project were both completed on time and on budget, and have given us a proven model for future P3 projects in the city.”
The City of Winnipeg has been a municipal leader in the use of P3s and is the first municipality ever to receive a PPP Canada grant. Among the advantages offered by P3s are budget certainty and long-term maintenance guarantees.
“Winnipeg, like many Canadian municipalities, is challenged by aging infrastructure that places heavy demands on the City’s budget,” said Mayor Katz. “P3s are not the right fit for every project, but for major infrastructure renewal, like in the case of our bridges, they can be a highly effective means to help stretch taxpayer dollars and ensure delivery of a top-quality product.”
The CCPPP National Conference will be held at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto on Nov. 7 and 8. Growing Municipal Economies Through Infrastructure Development: The Role for P3s is a one-hour session open to all conference attendees and takes place on Friday, Nov. 8 at 10:00 a.m. E.S.T.
The annual CCPPP National Conference is recognized as a leading public-private partnership event and, since its launch in 1992, has become the largest annual gathering of P3 decision-makers in the world. This year’s conference will attract over 1,200 Canadian and international delegates from the public and private sectors.