Ontario’s Auditor General this month praised Infrastructure Ontario (IO) for its success over the past nine years in reviving investment in public facilities. It confirmed IO’s claim that its P3 procurement approach, called Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP), has delivered $10 billion in mostly new hospitals and courthouses largely on schedule and on or under budget 97% of the time. It noted that $23.5 billion in long-term AFP liabilities and commitments, plus $5 billion in loans, for IO’s 74 completed and ongoing projects have been properly accounted for on the province’s books.

Now, however, the Auditor wants IO to shift gears and procure public projects with public finance on behalf of various ministries. IO, which has a large real estate division, says it would be happy to comply, at the direction of the Ministry of Employment, Economic Development and Infrastructure.