Manitoba may abandon PC plan to build schools using P3s

Premier Wab Kinew says Manitobawill probably abandon a Progressive Conservative plan to build nine schools through a public-private partnership.

"Yeah, I think that's right," the premier said in an interview last week, adding he fearsthe plan would add to Manitoba's deficit.

"Instead of paying that off with a mortgage, you have to pay it all up front with the P3 model, right? So that's a big cost.But we know that schools are needed. We have tobuild more schools to meet the needs of the population. So we're trying to plot out a careful plan that's responsible financially, that is going to make sense for how we get these schools."

Public-private partnerships, which are sometimes called P3s, are funding mechanisms where governmentsenlist a private-sector company or a consortium of private companiesto design, build, finance or maintain public amenities.

P3 paymentsare typically paid out over many years, not up front. These funding mechanismscan prove beneficial for governments that are able to lock in design, construction, financing or maintenance costs over the course of decades and, as a result, insulatethe governments in questionagainst against high inflation and other unpredictable factors.

Conversely, P3s can end up costing governments more than conventional construction projects when inflation is low,or if the P3 contracts are written without enough detail to cover contingencies likecostly changes to construction plans.

In March, Manitoba's former Progressive Conservative government committed tobuilding nine new schools over four yearsusing apublic-private partnership.

Proponents say the benefits of these partnerships can include cost savings and the private sector assuming all the risk. P3 schools in other jurisdictions, however, have faltered because of mismanagement and a lack of checks and balances.

In 2018, the former PC government rejected a plan to build schools under this model, saying it was too costly. Earlier this year, however, the Toriessaid the agreementwould save money and the schools wouldbe built faster as a developer can quickly shiftworkers from site to site.

The Tories planned to finish the nine schools by 2027. Five were planned for English-language school divisions in Winnipeg: twoK-8 schools in Pembina Trails, two in Seven Oaks and one more in River East Transcona.

The other planned schools were aK-12 French school in theFranco-Manitoban School Division, a K-8 school in Brandon School Division and vocational high schoolsin bothBeautiful Plains School Division and Seine River School Division.

The future of these P3 schools seemed in doubt in Novemberwhen Kinew asked NDP Education Minister Nello Altomare tobring in new "P3 accountability legislation to protect schools."

The province hasalready issued a request for companies qualified to conduct the work but had not selected any companies to do the work, saidWayne Ewasko, education critic for the Progressive Conservatives.

He said if Kinew truly intends to cancel the program, he better tell Altomarea school in his constituency isn't going ahead.

Ewasko also questioned the logic behind Kinew'srationale for killing the program.

"For him to say anything in regards to the finances on the P3s absolutely makes less than zero sense to me," Ewasko said.