'Disastrous' LRT experience should end public-private infrastructure projects, says Ontario NDP

Errors revealed in a scathing report into Ottawa's light rail transit system should push the province to stop promoting public-private partnerships for major infrastructure projects, according to Ontario's NDP, which says the deals lead to costly delays, huge bills and a lack of transparency.

Justice William Hourigan, commissioner of the public inquiry into Ottawa's LRT system, released his 664-page report on Wednesday, complete with 103 recommendations for how to prevent similar problems in the future.

Among the findings are a rift between the City of Ottawa and LRT builder Rideau Transit Group (RTG), which he called an underlying risk of public-private partnerships.

The arrangement allowed the city to offload the geotechnical risk associated with the LRT project to RTG, ultimately saving taxpayers $100 million.

However, the model also "caused or contributed to several of the ongoing difficulties on the project." For example, while the city would traditionally play a more direct role in such a major construction project, it had "limited insight or control" over this one.

Hourigan also recommended that all levels of government examine whether a public-private partnership contract, used here for the first time in a transit project in Ontario, is appropriate.

'Brutal lack of transparency'

Ottawa NDP MPPs Joel Harden and Chandra Pasma released a statement Wednesday criticizing the model, also known as a P3.

"We see that the true results of P3 projects are a brutal lack of transparency to the public, conflicting interests from partners, and less control by a city over massive infrastructure plans," the statement read.

"We are calling on the Ford government to stop promoting disastrous P3 project delivery that subjects cities like Ottawa to costly delays and huge bills."

The statement also referenced Toronto's Eglinton Crosstown, an ongoing public-private project, saying "no other city should have to suffer the same hardship inflicted on Ottawa."

During this summer's hearings, the inquiry heard major construction companies have been declining such partnerships because they're unwilling to assume the significant financial risk associated with them.

The Ontario government, which paid $600 million of the cost for the first stage of Ottawa's LRT project, ordered the inquiry earlier this year.

Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said she and her staff would review the massive report in the coming days. She did not comment on these partnerships specifically, but said taxpayers "deserve accountability for their money."

Learn from mistakes, MPs say

Like the province, where it was the Dalton McGuinty Liberals that committed that Stage 1 (and Stage 2) money, it was a different party in power that committed $600 million in federal money in 2010. 

Liberal MP Dominic Leblanc, who's also the federal minister of intergovernmental affairs, infrastructure and communities, told CBC the federal Liberals have not yet read the inquiry report but have "taken note" of it.

"These are large projects involving in many cases billions of dollars. We expect there to be rigorous oversight. We work with partners, mainly provincial, who have in many cases the substantial responsibility in terms of oversight, municipal partners as well. We'll be looking at that," said Leblanc.

"I'm always looking at ways to ensure we are spending taxpayers' dollars in the best way possible."

The federal Liberals committed to funding part of Stage 2 of the LRT in 2017.

Ottawa Centre Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi also said he hadn't read anything about the final report, but repeated that governments should learn from the recommendations and "ensure that those mistakes are not made ever again."

Former Ottawa city councillor Jenna Sudds, who is now a Liberal MP, refused to comment on the report.