The Government of Ontario released its Spring 2020 P3 Market Update on June 18, and while the document lists 37 projects—worth a combined total of more than $60 billion—that are in various stages of procurement, the update offers information on only five new projects.

Added to the list since the fall 2020 update are the expansions of Highway 3 from the Town of Essex to Leamington (worth less than $200 million), the expansion of Highway 17 from Arnprior to Renfrew (worth between $200 million and $499 million), planned RFPs to be issued for the Scarborough Subway extension and the Eglinton Crosstown West extension (both valued at more than $1 billion), and the Brampton Courthouse Addition phase 2 and Toronto Regional Bail Centre.

Also included on the list are two of the three requests for qualifications for the Ontario Line subway system—one for the rolling stock, systems, operations and maintenance, and the other for the southern civil work, stations and tunnel—that were announced by the province earlier in June. The third RFQ is expected to come to market in winter 2022.

In total, the update includes 17 civil projects, 16 health care, three community safety, and one children’s treatment centre. Twenty-four of these are already in procurement, and 13 are in the pre-transaction phase. A further 13 are included in the planning phase.

Of note is that while the province says it is committed to delivering the 16 projects listed in the health care sector, the spring update suggests that the timing of these projects may be subject to change due to the province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministries of Infrastructure and Health have been working closely to identify ways to enhance the capacity of health care services as the province confronts the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19,” wrote Infrastructure Ontario president and CEO Ehren Cory in his introductory letter to the report. “The Ministry [of Health] is continuing to review specific timing details for individual projects. We expect additional updates for hospital/health care projects will be included in IO’s Fall 2020 Market Update.”

Infrastructure Minister Laurie Scott said the release of the pipeline is a clear indication of the province’s commitment to the public-private partnership delivery model, and proof positive of is intent to act on infrastructure stimulus spending.

"The message today is clear, our government is moving from shovel ready to shovels in the ground," said Scott. "The P3 Market Update signals to the infrastructure sector that Ontario remains committed to major infrastructure projects including subways, highways, health care and community safety projects. This is stimulus that will create jobs and contribute to the economic recovery of our province."

The minister was joined by Cory on a video conference with Mark Romoff, president of the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships, to present the spring market update. During the discussion, Romoff asked Scott to speak to the cancellation of the Hamilton LRT project and the Halton Regional Courthouse, both of which have drawn criticism.

The minister said the decisions to cancel both were made independent of one another, and for very different reasons.

“When the pandemic hit, the office of the Attorney General saw it had to shift the way it delivered services from physical to digital,” she said. “The space created in the Halton Courthouse project was no longer needed, and the money could be better invested elsewhere.”

The transit project, she said, was a question of cost overruns.

In both cases, she said the government is working hard to replace the projects and bringing new infrastructure work to Hamilton.

The province plans to release another market update in the summer, and a more comprehensive update in the fall.